In a notice in Friday’s edition of this newspaper, Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) announced that it is in the process of finalizing its debt restructuring proposal which will be submitted within the next three weeks before being considered by lenders.
According to the notice, the proposal is being prepared in consultation with FTI Consulting Canada UTC, a company which was appointed as the independent advisor to the Creditor Steering Committee. The company, the notice said, has “broad experience and expertise in debt restructuring”. Further TCL retained the services of BroadSpan Capital LLC as its financial advisor.
In January, via another notice in the press, TCL announced that it had “declared a moratorium on debt service payments (both principal and interest) in order to preserve cash to sustain operations.” The cement producer, in that notice, said that its suspension of all of its debt payments would continue until it had completed its debt restructuring exercise, which it announced in its interim financial report for the nine months ending September 30, 2010. TCL also said that the debt restructuring was being undertaken to allow the group’s operation to be funded from the lower income streams resulting from the severe effect of the current economic decline in all TCL’s markets.
In Friday’s notice, TCL said it has delayed the finalization and publication of its 2010 financial results. “In keeping with the board’s desire to provide the maximum possible assurance to the external auditors in relation to the debt restructuring exercise, TCL has delayed the finalization and publication of its 2010 financial results,” the statement said. “The company expects to publish its 2010 and first quarter 2011 financial statements before May 31, 2011,” the notice added. This, the notice said, also applies to the publication of the financial statements of its listed subsidiary companies.
