Puerto Rico in Distress

ABI Analysis

Puerto Rico’s main electric utility won another week from bondholders to get insurance companies to sign onto an agreement to restructure the agency’s $8.2 billion of debt and for commonwealth lawmakers to approve the proposal, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider reinstating a Puerto Rico law that would let its debt-ridden public utilities restructure their obligations, agreeing to hear an appeal by the commonwealth as it tries to navigate out of its fiscal crisis, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The disputed law would affect $22 billion of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion in debt.

The U.S. Supreme Court may announce as soon as today whether it will hear an appeal by Puerto Rico to reinstate a law that would allow some island agencies to restructure their debts, Bloomberg News reported. The Court is scheduled to review Puerto Rico’s appeal during a private conference today, when it often issues a list of new cases.

Puerto Rico said that it made all principal and interest payments due yesterday, averting a default on directly guaranteed bonds and allowing the commonwealth to continue talks with creditors to reduce its $70 billion debt burden, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.