Wednesday, January 11, 2017

iHM Lawsuit Vs Bondholders Moved To Federal Court

Bondholders have transferred an iHeartMedia Inc. lawsuit against them seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from debt default notices last year to federal district court in San Antonio from Bexar County state district court, according to the News-Express.

The lawsuit, filed in July, alleges that some of its bondholders delayed the radio-and-billboard giant’s ability to buy back some of its debts at discount when the bondholders issued debt default notices against the company last March.

San Antonio-based iHeartMedia already has won one lawsuit in a Bexar County district court. In May, the court sided with iHeartMedia and stopped the bondholders’ default notices.

But because the bondholders’ actions caused iHeartMedia to delay plans to purchase debts, the radio giant filed the July lawsuit, saying the delay hiked the cost of restructuring its debts.

After iHeartMedia won the lawsuit in May, iHeartMedia subsidiary Broader Media subsequently purchased senior debt due in 2018 that carried a 10 percent interest rate and had an original face value of $383 million for $222 million. But the company said the purchase was more than $100 million higher than it would have paid in February, when bondholders were negotiating with the company about a transfer of company-owned stock used to support the planned debt purchases.

The lawsuit adds that bondholder actions have damaged the company’s business relations and reputation “in an amount to be proven at trial.”

The lawsuit was moved to federal district court by the lawyers for the lawsuit defendants, mainly institutional corporate debt holders.

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