Foxwoods Owner Releases Restructuring Terms

Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn., has released information about the proposed $2.2 billion corporate debt restructuring it reached in August with steering committees of its lenders and bondholders.

The restructuring includes a haircut for the holders of the municipal component of the tribe's debt.

The agreement ended three years of negotiations between creditors and the Pequots after they defaulted on a $7 million interest payment on $500 million of debt.

Documents are available on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA website.

According to GLC Advisors & Co., the financial advisor to certain bondholders, the municipal tranche, now $415 million, will become $293 million with 18-year maturities, compared with current maturities ranging from 2009 to 2034.

The coupon will be 7.15% for three years, then 6.05% after that. The additional interest involves $3.1 million of cash interest per year for the first three years. Pay down at close will feature $6.6 million of remaining debt service funds, at par plus accrued interest to the Series 1997B bonds.

Mashantucket said the restructuring will enable the tribe to avoid litigation or bankruptcy, and improve its capital structure in the face of looming competition from gambling in Massachusetts, which passed legislation in 2011 allowing casinos. That state formally began its application process this past summer.

"To date, holders of the majority of each class of the Tribe's debt securities have executed agreements in support of the restructuring. In the meantime, MPTN is working toward broadening support and implementing the restructuring plan," the Mashantucket Pequot tribe said in a statement.

Mashantucket's financial advisor for the restructuring is Miller Buckfire & Co.; and its legal counsel is Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC is counsel to the trustee.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Connecticut
MORE FROM BOND BUYER