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Musk Risks ‘Battle Royale’ with Creditors as He Remakes Twitter

Submitted by ckanon@abi.org on
Elon Musk’s project to overhaul Twitter Inc. after taking it private carries potential legal risks, even though the billionaire doesn’t have to worry about keeping shareholders happy, Bloomberg Law reported. Musk still has to answer to the consortium of seven banks that provided $13 billion in financing for the buyout. The banks are likely to be patient for now, while Musk works to make Twitter more profitable. If Twitter’s revenue drops, Musk faces litigation perils. The clearest risks involve creditors, both the banks behind the initial deal financing and the secondary investors to whom they’re expected to farm out the loans. Creditors may take action if they start to worry about debt payments. The financial institutions backing the initial loans, which come with roughly $1 billion in annual interest payments. A decline in Twitter’s fortunes could lead to creative efforts to restructure the loans. If Musk “doesn’t turn this boat around in the next six months, not only is that a possibility,” Columbia University law professor Eric Talley said, “I actually think it’s a probability.” Talley pointed to increasingly popular restructuring plans that pit different groups of creditors against one another. Savvy creditors aware of the tactic could seek to head it off by suing Musk for breach of contract “right at that moment,” as soon as any shakeup is announced, leading to “a battle royale of debt restructuring,” Talley said. Those lawsuits could be brought either by the banks or the holders of syndicated debt, who could demand immediate repayment of the full loan.
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Prolonged Russian Sanctions Cited as Having Significant Effect in Disappointing Economic and Earnings Reports

Everyone is feeling the impacts of the highest rate of inflation in decades, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) still reporting a 8.3% year-over-year rate of inflation. Many pundits are blaming the impact of the Russian sanctions as a primary driver. This month, U.S. companies reporting earnings are repeating the same mantra.