Detroit Sets Meeting With Bondholders

CHICAGO -- Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr has called a meeting with the city’s creditors, including bondholders, for June 14 at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

It will be Orr’s first formal meeting with bondholders, who will be represented largely by bond insurers. Nearly all of Detroit’s debt carries insurance.

The meeting is set for 10 a.m. Reports in Detroit media said Orr will meet with 150 creditors, including bond insurers, banks, and unions.

The Detroit Free Press said Orr will offer creditors less than 10 cents on the dollar. Orr will also reportedly press a 200-page report outlining the city’s assets and liabilities and what it can offer to pay creditors if they settle outside of Chapter 9.

A spokesman for National Public Finance Corp., a subsidiary of MBIA Inc., confirmed the meeting and said the firm’s representatives would be there. National wraps nearly $2.5 billion of Detroit debt, including $101 million of unlimited-tax general obligation bonds and a large chunk of water and sewer revenue bonds.

Orr spokesman Bill Nowling did not return calls seeking comment.

The meeting is set for the day before a $39.7 million debt-service payment is due on the city’s pension certificates of obligation. The payment comes largely from the city’s general fund.

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