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Puerto Rico Power Utility Bonds Soar on Restructuring Deal

(Bloomberg) -- The Puerto Rico electric company’s bonds surged after it struck a preliminary agreement with bondholders to restructure its crippling debts, marking a major advance in the government-owned utility’s efforts to emerge from bankruptcy.

The pact -- reached by the island’s government, the territory’s federal oversight board and a key group of investors -- would slash the debt service bills of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority more deeply than an agreement the board rejected a year ago. The board said in a statement Monday that it’s working to finalize the deal for the power company known as Prepa.

The company’s bonds were the most actively traded municipal securities Tuesday, when investors pushed up the price of some of them by nearly 40 percent. Debt due in 2040 jumped to an average of 60.2 cents on the dollar from 43.4 cents Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Reducing the utility’s $9 billion of debt may push the utility closer to privatization because investors would be cautious about lending needed money to the company if it continues to be run entirely by a government that steered it into collapse, said Matt Fabian, partner at Municipal Market Analytics. Puerto Rico is seeking to sell some of the utility’s assets or enter into long-term concession agreements with private operators.

“The board likes this deal because it’s going to force the issue of privatizing Prepa,” Fabian said. “Investors will always be more careful in lending a Prepa successor money.”

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/puerto-rico-power-utility-bonds-soar-on-restructuring-deal-1.1116706