Board Offers $3-billion Settlement To Restructure Puerto Rico Power Company Debt

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A national power committee that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances announced Tuesday that it has offered a $3-billion colony to bondholders successful a caller push to yet restructure much than $10 cardinal successful indebtedness held by nan U.S. territory’s powerfulness company.

The committee is proposing paying rate and offering nan issuance of caller bonds to bondholders that person not settled and are seeking immoderate $8.5 cardinal successful claims.

The projected colony is $1.4 cardinal much than antecedently offered.

Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority has been trying to restructure its indebtedness for astir a decade, aft nan U.S. territory announced successful 2015 that it was incapable to salary its much than $70-billion indebtedness load. That prompted Congress to create nan national committee successful 2016. A twelvemonth later, Puerto Rico’s authorities revenge for nan largest municipal bankruptcy successful U.S. history.

Since then, nan committee and bondholders of nan powerfulness company’s indebtedness person been astatine likelihood complete compensation, pinch aggregate mediation attempts failing.

“Puerto Rico must beryllium capable to adjacent this past section of its fiscal situation and move forward,” said Robert F. Mujica Jr., nan board’s executive director.

He stressed that restructuring nan company’s indebtedness “is basal to Puerto Rico’s betterment — to nan reliable, affordable energy and nan caller finance its residents and businesses deserve.”

The committee said it has not yet identified nan root of costs to finance nan projected settlement.

Some interest that nan costs could travel from an summation successful powerfulness bills, which already are among nan highest successful immoderate U.S. jurisdiction arsenic chronic outages persist.

The committee noted that erstwhile agreements reached pinch respective creditors and immoderate bondholders successful nan powerfulness company’s lawsuit stay successful place.

The committee said that overall, it has completed 12 indebtedness restructurings for Puerto Rico’s government, eliminating much than $55 cardinal successful indebtedness payments complete 40 years.