WASHINGTON — Puerto Rico attorney John Mudd and muni market observer Cate Long have launched a subscription service for bondholders who want to stay up-to-date on the restructuring of the commonwealth's debt.
Puerto Rico Clearinghouse, launched Monday, aims to attract bondholders who have a stake in court proceedings in San Juan, but are not yet ready to hire their own attorneys to pursue their interests there, Long said.
Oppenheimer Rochester Funds and Franklin Funds have sued Puerto Rico in federal court in an effort to overturn a law that would allow publicly-owned corporations to restructure, a particular concern for holders of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bonds. PREPA has been cited as the most likely of the island's bond-issuing authorities to attempt to restructure its debt.
Mudd, who is fluent in both English and Spanish, has practiced law on the island since 1983.
"John has practiced law in Puerto Rico for decades and knows the court systems, the attorneys and judges," said Long, who is a New York-based prolific Twitter presence and contributor to Reuters.
The service costs $750 per month or $7,000 per year, Long said. A basic subscription provides case documents, analysis of the status of trials and an open-source database containing notes for each case. The company will also do custom research projects on request.
