Duration of claim is central to PREPA bondholder repayment

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders say they are owed $8.5 billion and the timeframe of being able to collect on their claim should continue in perpetuity.

That was a central point of contention during Tuesday’s PREPA bond claim estimation hearing during which lawyers for the bondholders and the Oversight Board argued about what the appropriate duration is and whether the amount the bondholders are owed hinges it.

Currently, the board’s chief expert has estimated the bondholders’ claim to be $2.1 billion.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who is overseeing the bankruptcy, said that estimating the size of the claim is the first step to deciding how much to give them in a final plan of adjustment.

In earlier briefings and once again on Tuesday, the board’s attorneys argued the bondholders’ trustee was governed by and the proposed new bonds would lack basic protections for bondholders, increasing the risk they would default and lowering their potential value on the secondary market.