Detroit bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who is overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy, will rule next week on a critical interest-rate swaps settlement after an all-day hearing Thursday that centered on the legality of the lien backing the derivatives.

Detroit's revised debt plan, which proposes even lower recoveries for bondholders, is a harsh reminder that even bonds with strong security pledges will suffer when economic conditions are too bad, Moody's Investors Service said in a comment titled "Detroit Turns the Screw."

Detroit can move forward with a controversial $120 million loan with Barclays, the federal judge overseeing the city's bankruptcy case said Wednesday.

Bondholder recoveries would tumble another 5% under an updated plan of debt adjustment that Detroit filed with the bankruptcy court Monday evening.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee requested dozens of documents from the Detroit Institute of Arts, Christie's, and the state tied to the insurer's challenge to the city's bankruptcy and its attempt to protect the city's art collection from sale.

The Detroit bankruptcy judge on Wednesday will consider a request from bond insurers and others requesting that a hearing on a controversial swaps settlement scheduled for Thursday be pushed back by at least 10 days.

Detroit Friday released details of a controversial $120 million loan with Barclays as ordered by the bankruptcy judge overseeing the case.

Detroit amended its interest-rate swaps deal to drop banks' requirement that it sign off on its plan of debt adjustment, and also said it would file an updated bankruptcy plan on Monday.

Detroit's proposed $120 million loan with Barclays, which would finance service improvements, advanced Tuesday after a key Michigan board approved the deal.

Standard & Poor's Tuesday downgraded Detroit's already junk-rated $5.9 billion of water and sewer bonds warning of a default even as the city turns to the private sector to take over the asset.

The judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy case ordered the city to disclose more details of a proposed $120 million loan with Barclays, including financing terms and the use of proceeds.

The Detroit Water and Sewer Department plans to come to market in June with $150 million of sewer bonds — and possibly a restructuring of its entire $4 billion portfolio — in the midst of the city's tumultuous bankruptcy and talks to privatize the asset.

The counterparties to Detroit's interest-rate swaps mounted their first public defense of a controversial settlement with the city Friday, arguing that the derivatives are legally secured and warning that litigation would be costly and painful for Detroiters.

The bond insurers that wrap Detroit's unlimited-tax general obligation bonds have been ordered into a Monday mediation session with the city several weeks after the judge overseeing the case said he would issue a ruling on whether or not the city can treat the debt as unsecured.

Detroit has reportedly yet to finalize a crucial settlement with its interest-rate swap counterparties.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder told local reporters that he wants Detroit to reach an agreement with its retirees to help advance legislation that would appropriate $350 million in state funds for the city's unfunded pensions.

Detroit's bankruptcy proceedings are on hyper speed compared to San Bernardino's Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

A pair of bond insurers filed lawsuits this week challenging key aspects of Detroit's bankruptcy debt plan, litigation that could derail the city's goal of exiting by the fall.

Syncora is challenging Detroit's latest attempt to settle with its interest-rate swap counterparties, a day after FGIC filed a challenge to the city's lawsuit attempting to invalidate its pension certificates.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Company has asked the bankruptcy court overseeing Detroit's Chapter 9 to allow it to intervene in a city lawsuit that attempts to repudiate $1.4 billion of pension certificate debt.