PG&E creditor group pushing to scuttle $31b restructuring plan

Bloomberg

A group of creditors angling for control of PG&E Corp. is pushing to scuttle the bankrupt utility’s $31 billion restructuring plan.
An ad hoc committee of unsecured lenders filed a motion to terminate the period of exclusivity that PG&E has to file a plan for emerging from Chapter 11, according to a court filing. That period ends on September 26. While it is in effect nobody else can submit a reorganisation plan.
The creditor group, led by Pacific Investment Management Co., Elliott Management Corp. and Dav- idson Kempner Capital Management, wants to end it now so they can put forth their own plan that would see the California power company emerge from bankruptcy by the end of 2019 or shortly after.
That plan would inject up to $30 billion of new money into PG&E.
“The need to exit bankruptcy expeditiously is paramount,” the creditors said in the filing in US Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco. “It has been five months since the petition date, and a new wildfire season has already begun.”
PG&E rose as much as 2.5 percent on the news. The shares gained 1.2 percent to $21.92 in New York, giving the company a market value of about $11.6 billion. In an emailed statement, PG&E said it was committed to work with its stakeholders through the Chapter 11 process to resolve 2017-2018 wildfire claims and develop a “more sustainable business model.”
The creditor request is the latest twist in the biggest utility bankruptcy in US history. California politicians, creditors, activist investors, wildfire victims and others have all piled into the case since PG&E declared Chapter 11 in January to deal with an estimated $30 billion in damages tied to wildfires that its equipment ignited.
The creditor group indicated last month that it would push to end the exclusivity period early.