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Creditor Committee Co-Chair Visits To Say Superbond 2.0 is Ready For Launch
posted (January 21, 2013)
Superbond 2.0 is about two weeks away from launching. That's the news coming out of a prime ministerial press conference held this afternoon. But it wasn't just another announcement like the one held before Christmas, today, Prime Minister Dean Barrow was joined by A-J Mediratta, he's the co-chair of the creditors' committee.

That committee represents over 50% of the bondholders - the group that stands to lose the most from the renegotiation. Mediratta arrived in the country on Saturday where Prime Minister Barrow and Speaker of the House, Mike Peyrefitte, greeted him at the airport. He flew out to San Pedro with his family and returned today for the press conference. His presence indicates that the new deal is done in accord with the creditors. And while they stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the bond, Mediratta was agreeable enough. Both he and the PM agreed that the process would soon be finished:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"The general economic terms of the restructuring have been agreed. While then I can't say to you this afternoon that the deal is done, I can tell you that we are so close to finality that we expect to launch the exchange offer within the next week or two."

AJ Mediratta, Greylock Capitol, Co-Chair, Creditor's Committee
"We are very close. A broad agreement on the general terms was reached in late December and we are right now really just priming through the process."

But still, there's not much more on details - and the PM says that is because of US Securities and Exchange Regulations. But he did provide a broad outline:

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Those terms will result by all calculations in a savings in cash flow relief for 2012 of US11 million dollars. We are looking at cash flow savings in 2013 of US33 million dollars. We are looking at cash flow savings during the 5 year period 2013-2017 of US100 million dollars and we are looking at cash flow savings during the 10 year period 2013`-2222 of US247 million dollars."

AJ Mediratta
"I am pretty sure that we will see a fewer bond hold."

Pain - that is an operative term in these types of negotiations - because as we said earlier, for Belize to get some ease, the bondholders have to give up hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings that they had expected to realize over the life of the bond. That's the tough reality, but Mediratta says he's not angry:

AJ Mediratta
"I am also frequently asked if I am bad and as I mention a number of bond holders felt quite strong about what was going on and this come up to me from time to time but my firm has done this a long time and we know that countries don't undertake us very likely, it's easy to talk about but for a country to actually on its debt and deal with all the distractions, the lawsuits, the headaches, no country take that likely, so we don't that Belize will not take this likely. I think what Belize has done and how it's done especially through this process I think we will fight well in Belize. I think I am optimistic that what we in Belize agree upon will form a presence for other countries."

And while it might be an example, it's not done yet. Mediratta says they are in touch with 60% of the bondholders - and there's always the possibility of holdouts. Mediratta discussed that and the PM brought up one very significant trouble area:..

AJ Mediratta
"I expect that there will be some bond holders that may disagree with the course of the committee but we are confident that the committee will accept or I will not be here if the committee was not on board with where we are today and I am quite confident that a significant majority will follow the lead."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"As recently as last week a memorandum was circulated to bond holders making the case against the concessions as they were describe in that memorandum that the creditor committee was agreeing with Belize. I don't think you have to think too hard to figure out from which particular quarter that that sort of campaign was coming from."

Both sides said that the final details are in the hands of the attorneys - who are now working through the final details.

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