Detroit bankruptcy

The outcome of Detroit's high-profile bankruptcy highlights the growing tension between pension obligations and bond debt for distressed governments while leaving a lack of legal clarity on the treatment of general obligation bonds.

The bankruptcy judge overseeing Detroit's Chapter 9 case confirmed the city's plan of confirmation Friday, capping the largest municipal bankruptcy case in the U.S. by endorsing a plan that favored pensioners over bondholders

Standard & Poor's said Detroit's bankruptcy will not affect the agency's general obligation ratings despite "months of headlines and court battles."

The federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy will rule on the city's debt plan Friday, in one of the most closely watched cases in the muni market.

Newly elected Wayne County, Michigan Executive Warren Evans said he believes the long-struggling county, home to Detroit, will be able to avoid a state-appointed emergency manager.

Three days before a judge rules on Detroit's bankruptcy exit strategy, the city posted a proposed order that defends the plan as conforming to all key federal benchmarks, highlighting its legal justification for favoring pensioners over bondholders.

Michigan should enact protection of general obligation bonds to help the state's local governments in the wake of Detroit's treatment of its GOs as unsecured, says bankruptcy expert James Spiotto.

The trial to decide if Detroit's bankruptcy confirmation plan will be approved closed with attorneys for the city defending its debt-adjustment plan as fair to creditors and capable of setting the city on a path to revitalization.

On the closing day of Detroit's bankruptcy trial, municipal research firm Municipal Market Advisors warned that the city may have just set itself up for another Chapter 9.

The trial on Detroit's debt-adjustment plan adjourned after court-appointed finance expert Martha Kopacz testified that its plan to exit Chapter 9 bankruptcy is feasible.

More details on Detroit's crucial settlement with bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. emerged Tuesday, while testimony on the feasibility of the city's bankruptcy exit plan is expected to come Wednesday, the final day of the historic trial.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating on Detroit's $1.5 billion of certificates of participation to C from Ca, saying proposed settlements with insurers mean recoveries well below the Ca category.

A Michigan authority created to oversee the disbursement of nearly $200 million of state aid to bankrupt Detroit held its first meeting in Lansing last week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is set to rule on Detroit's bankruptcy late in the first week of November, likely putting it past the state's gubernatorial election.

The board of Wayne County, Mich. has rejected a plan to move a half-built abandoned jail site in downtown Detroit, making it more likely the county will restart the controversial, bond-financed project.

Detroit's convention center is hitting the market Wednesday with $300 million of bonds that marks its first public offering since it was taken over by a regional authority in 2009.

Detroit reached a settlement with FGIC, the last major holdout creditor in its bankruptcy case, that gives the bond insurer a mix of cash and prime downtown Detroit land to build a new hotel and condominiums.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan hired former New York City budget director Carol O'Cleireacain as a deputy mayor. She will find new revenue, work on the city's emergence from bankruptcy and on the restructuring of its massive water and sewer department.

Officials in Wayne County, Mich., are contemplating the fate of a half-built, bond-financed jail in downtown Detroit that has been abandoned for more than a year amid major cost overruns and an FBI investigation.

Attorneys for bankrupt Detroit and bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. said in court that they plan to finalize an agreement by Thursday, a move that would mean the city would have support from all major creditors for its bankruptcy exit plan.