Globo Comunicacoes Participators debt restructuring completes

The largest media company in Brazil is nearly done with the process of a corporate bond restructuring that is the largest in that South American country’s history.

Globo Comunicacoes Participators (Globopar) began on Monday an auction process that will refinance its $1.3 billion debt.

Globopar has been negotiating with it’s Brazilian and worldwide creditors for two years to restructure the debt.

Holders of the company’s bond issues agreed in April to exchange old debt for either cash or new securities, and the banks involved agreed to the restructuring last week.

The auction will be accomplished in about a month and will leave creditors the choice of claiming their portion of $200 million in cash or taking debt worth more than the face value of the defaulted bonds they possess.

Globopar found itself in debt trouble after losses in its cable division during the 1990s and things only became worse when the devaluation of Brazil’s currency in 2002 left it unable to service its foreign debt.

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