Detroit bankruptcy

Syncora Guarantee Inc. is challenging bankrupt Detroit's April settlement with its unlimited-tax general obligation bondholders, saying it violates Michigan law.

Detroit's two interest-rate swap counterparties returned to court to complain that the city's plan of confirmation does not conform to the terms of the settlement they reached with the city.

The chief mediation in Detroit's Chapter 9 case has ordered the city to meet Monday with holders and insurers of $1.4 billion of certificates of participation to try to reach a settlement.

Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes blocked insurer Syncora's request to question the state attorney general, and gave a limited green light to plan for the city's proposal to take the court on a bus tour of the city as part of the upcoming trial.

Investors were not reluctant to buy the Detroit name when the Michigan Finance Authority priced $185 million of bonds for the Detroit Public Lighting Authority Wednesday.

As Detroit has shown, the Chapter 9 world and the municipal bond finance world often just don't speak the same language, according to Nixon Peabody LLP attorneys.

Detroit Tuesday defended its proposal to take Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes on a bus tour of the city as part of the plan of confirmation trial later this summer.

Syncora Guarantee Inc. has accused Detroit of pitting its pensioners against its financial creditors in a "torches and pitchforks" campaign, the insurer's latest salvo in a rising war of words between the two parties.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. has subpoenaed Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Sean Werdlow, with Siebert Brandford Shank and a former Detroit CFO, for a deposition in the Detroit bankruptcy.

U.S. Chief District Judge Gerald Rosen, the top mediator in Detroit's bankruptcy case, has ordered the city into talks with water and sewer revenue bondholders, one of the few holdout creditors in the case.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Friday signed a package of bills aimed at resolving Detroit's Chapter 9 case at a triumphant ceremony where the governor and others proclaimed the end is in sight for the historic bankruptcy.

As Detroit released preliminary bond documents for next week's $185 million streetlight sale, Fitch Ratings assigned a BBB-plus to the borrowing, saying it believes the utility tax revenues pledged to the bonds are not at risk in the city's bankruptcy.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder knew a $195 million contribution to Detroit's bankruptcy could concern analysts, but believes it is important, a spokesperson said after Standard & Poor's revised its outlook.

S&P revises Michigan's outlook down to stable from positive, citing soft revenues as well as its recent contribution to Detroit's bankruptcy.

Structural protections and a yield-hungry market are apt to boost interest in bonds for the Detroit Public Lighting Authority, despite the city's ongoing Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Fitch Ratings said Monday it has withdrawn its D ratings on most of Detroit's debt, saying there's no reason to maintain a rating on defaulted bonds.

Two bond insurers that wrap Detroit water and sewer bonds have told bondholders to reject Detroit's bankruptcy plan of confirmation, even as the insurers fight for the exclusive right to vote on the plan.

In a major development, Detroit bankruptcy mediators announced a settlement on the treatment of the city's limited tax general obligation bonds. Terms were not immediately disclosed.

The Michigan Legislature adjourned for the summer on June 12 after failing to reach an agreement on new transportation funding despite weeks of intensive effort and support from business and labor groups and Gov. Rick Snyder.

Two more foundations have pledged $13 million to Detroit's pensions via the Detroit Institute of Arts in a bid to protect the museum's prized art collection as part of a grand bargain worked out by federal court mediators.