Parties connected to Puerto Rico’s $3.2 billion Employees Retirement System bonds announced a “definitive” deal late Friday.
Parties to Friday’s announcement include the Puerto Rico Oversight Board, the Official Committee of Retired Employees of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a group of ERS bondholders, and the Bank of New York Mellon as fiscal agent for the bonds.
The parties had announced terms of a preliminary deal dependent on certain conditions, a “stipulation,” on March 10. In the document they submitted to the bankruptcy court on Friday the parties speak of a “further economic understanding” but do not disclose its terms.
In Friday’s filing the parties tell Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain that a previously scheduled April 8 oral hearing will not need to take place. The parties filed the “Supplemental Joint Statement” in the United States District Court for Puerto Rico, where the bankruptcy is taking place.
In the March 10 agreement bondholders were to be paid 14.1% of the original par value. Puerto Rico Oversight Board Attorney Brian Rosen said over 70% of the ERS bondholders supported the deal.
The ERS bonds are covered in the central government plan of adjustment released in early March. The March 10 deal increased the offer from that found in the plan of adjustment. It is unclear if the terms approved late last week differ from those laid out in the March 10 deal.
The terms will become clear in court filings in the next days or weeks.
The bondholders endorsing the new agreement are 39 investment funds holding the ERS Bonds. They are represented by the Jones Day and White & Case law firms.
