Grupo Aeroméxico SAB obtained judicial permission to send its restructuring plan to creditors for a vote, a key step before the airline seeks final court approval to exit bankruptcy.
US bankruptcy judge Shelley Chapman said she will sign a final order that will allow voting to begin after the company and a committee of unsecured creditors finish drafting documents that will help lenders decide whether to back the loan plan. debt restructuring. Chapman, based in Manhattan, held a court hearing by phone on Monday.
The approval establishes a final confrontation in the courtroom between the unsecured creditors and Aeroméxico. For its part, the committee argues that the bankruptcy exit plan undervalues the airline to benefit senior debt holders Apollo Global Management Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc.
If the company manages to obtain the so-called disclosure statement for creditors quickly enough to allow a vote, Aeromexico will return to court in January to ask Chapman to approve the restructuring plan over objections from lower-ranking creditors, it said. the judge on Monday. Creditors are protesting the scheme, which they say distributes value unfairly and could lead to a “protracted litigation”.
New financing
Chapman also granted the airline permission to sign an agreement with Apollo and other investors to provide exit financing.
Under the restructuring plan that creditors will vote on in the coming weeks, Apollo would convert part of the debt into equity. A group led by the asset manager would provide new equity and debt financing totaling more than $ 1.4 billion.
For its part, Delta Air Lines has said that it supports the plan and that it will acquire US $ 185 million of that tranche and extend an additional US $ 100 million in financing, in addition to forgiving part of its part of the loan due to bankruptcy.
The committee, appointed by the U.S. Trustee to represent lower-ranking creditors, has sided with holders of unsecured debt Invictus Global Management and Corvid Peak Capital Management, who made their opposition public in a letter. In the past week.
Aeromexico filed for bankruptcy last year during the pandemic. Apollo Global Management orchestrated a $ 1 billion rescue plan that helped keep the struggling airline afloat during its Chapter 11 case.
The case is Grupo Aeroméxico, SAB de CV, 20-11563, United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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