NTL debt deal wins approval

12 April 2012

BRITISH cable group NTL received crucial approval from its lending banks to press on with one of the world's biggest corporate rescues, as it prepares to file for bankruptcy by Monday.

The restructuring, effectively a £7bn corporate bond default that tops that of collapsed energy trader Enron, was already accepted by most bondholders, but needed approval from NTL's bank creditors.

The debt-for-equity swap, announced last month, will reduce NTL's life-threatening £11.5bn debt but will also require certain NTL holding companies to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. NTL's operations will still be free to do business.

NTL ran up debts through an acquisition binge at the height of the 1990s technology boom. The resulting huge interest payments, which are now set to fall by around £578m a year, have overshadowed what analysts believe to be a viable business.

Chief Executive Barclay Knapp said he would 'restart the growth engine' in the company once it emerges from the process by the end of the third quarter.

He added that once the process was complete, NTL shares would be relisted on either the New York or London stock exchange. The currently New York-based company has all its operations in Europe.

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