Judge Christopher Lopez said he found there was “current financial distress” in Intrum’s case. — Bloomberg
DALLAS: A US bankruptcy judge has confirmed the debt restructuring plan of Sweden’s Intrum AB despite the opposition from a minority group of creditors, clearing a major obstacle for the debt collector.
“Nothing here was intended to defraud or to intentionally designed to harm a particular creditor group,” Judge Christopher Lopez said. “This was a good faith filing.”
The ruling came after a days-long hearing in Texas, where attorneys of Intrum and opposing creditors argued over the validity of the company’s US bankruptcy filing.
Lopez said he found there was “current financial distress” in Intrum’s case, striking down one of the arguments from the opposing group.
He added that creditors owed more than US$3.5bil voted to accept the plan.
“If this restructuring is done, it’s going to preserve the debtor’s ability to operate as a going concern,” company attorney Andrew M. Leblanc had said at an earlier hearing.
Only 6% of creditors stood at the court to object the plan, he added.
Benjamin Finestone, an attorney for holders of Intrum notes due in 2025, had said US bankruptcy courts have consistently dismissed petitions filed by financially healthy companies with no need to reorganise in Chapter 11.
He argued that Intrum had “no liquidity issue”, “no business in the United States” and “no financial distress”.
A last-minute deal between the opposing holders and Intrum was struck and fell apart within one day last month, leading to a contentious hearing.
The group, of which members included Diameter Capital Partners, had argued before that the plan doesn’t reflect that their bonds were temporarily first in line of repayment.
The group contended during an earlier hearing that there was no international agreement to honor any order of the US bankruptcy court.
A restructuring must be approved in Sweden, they alleged.
Intrum in November sought court protection in Texas to deal with a debt pile that became unwieldy after interest rates rose.
The company reached a deal to restructure its 58.4 billion krona (US$5.3bil) debt pile earlier last year with the support of 82% of its creditors. — Bloomberg
