Puerto Rico

Board chairman says Juan Sabater will bring valued economic expertise to the panel.

Nelson Pérez Méndez will become the interim Secretary of the Treasury.

The board says the bondholders have no "unsecured claim" and only a lien on a small amount of money held by the authority when it was placed into bankruptcy.

Judge says the issues can be considered at March's confirmation hearing.

A deal to provide more money for defaulted AES bonds is also under way.

Higher income tax collections, mainly from corporations, have contributed to the higher than expected revenue, for the period that began on July 1.

An appeals court is considering the arguments after bondholders lost in the lower court.

SIFMA, which also filed a brief, said the District Court judge's rejection of a bondholder lien on PREPA's revenues "grossly misreads the underlying bond documents."

The suit contends PREPA's fiscal plans and budgets were manipulated to deprive bondholders of their claim on the authority's revenues and depress the value of the bonds.

The experts, hired by bond parties, say the Oversight Board's economic and expense assumptions underlying its plan of adjustment are too pessimistic.