Lumen requests an extension to complete its restructuring process
Citing people close to the negotiations, Lumen, according to a Bloomberg report, wants its creditors to give it additional time to complete its restructuring process.
The telco has asked for the deadline to be pushed to Jan 31. While the creditors who helped Lumen develop its restructuring proposal agreed to give it more time, the company needs all the banks to sign off on the restructuring deal for it to be finalized.
In addition to having discussions with banks about pushing out the maturity of its credit line, the company has talked to the lenders about how they could receive better priority in the repayment line.
In October, Lumen entered into a transaction support agreement with a group of creditors holding over $7 billion of the outstanding indebtedness of the Company and its subsidiaries to, among other things, extend maturities of the debt instruments of the Company and Level 3 Financing. Lumen’s restructuring proposal would hand the firm $1.2 billion of fresh financing and let creditors swap specific securities tied to its legacy Level 3 unit for new, longer-dated bonds.
This latest proposal was not welcomed by a group of creditors not included in the transaction. A group of investors, Bloomberg previously reported, developed an alternative plan.
Neither Lumen nor its adviser, Guggenheim Securities, would comment on the current negotiation process.
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About the Author
Sean BuckleySean Buckley
Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove.
