Alabama's Jefferson County on Friday held off from filing for bankruptcy over a $3.14 billion bond debt and allowed more time for talks with creditors to try to thrash out a restructuring agreement.
 |
The
decision means Alabama's most-populous county will not—for the
moment—declare what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S.
history over its sewer bond debt.
Heeding
a plea from Alabama Governor Robert Bentley for more time to obtain
more state financial support for a restructuring deal, county
commissioners said they would extend by more than a month, until Sept.
16, negotiations with creditors, among them JPMorgan Chase [JPM
35.91
-0.78
(-2.13%)
].
-0.78
(-2.13%)
].
They
authorized county Commission President David Carrington and Finance
Chairman Jimmie Stephens to pursue "direct" talks with creditors to try
to gain more acceptable terms for a definitive restructuring settlement.
Summing up a day of complex closed-door and
public debate, Carrington said the creditors' settlement offer in its
current form was "unacceptable." But he added: "There are some terms in
here that we can work with."
"It's time the commission took ownership of this debt crisis," said Commissioner T. Joe Knight.
In
the public session at the Jefferson County courthouse, almost all of
the five commissioners criticized or expressed reservations about
elements of the deal proposed by creditors.
Submitted by Jim Alex
No comments:
Post a Comment