November 29, 2009
Dubai World, one of Dubai’s largest and most important conglomerates, is considering four options of repaying its total 59-billion-U.S. dollars debts and liabilities.
Dubai World could still meet the Dec. 14 deadline on the 4 billion dollars payment of a sukuk, or Islamic bond, from its flagship real estate developer Nakheel under one option being considered by advisers to the conglomerate, according to a state-run newspaper The National.
Repayment on schedule is one of four alternatives being considered by Dubai World, which announced Wednesday it would seek a freeze on billions of dollars in debt repayments to bondholders and creditors.
Aidan Birkett of Deloitte, the new chief restructuring officer of Dubai World, is still pondering the options, the paper reported on Sunday.
Last week, Birkett was appointed to oversee Dubai World’s reorganization, along with the investment bank Rothschild and the U.S. corporate specialists Alix Partners.
If Dubai World pays back the sukuk, it will solve a problem for the company and its bondholders, and leave open the option of rescheduling bank debt and other liabilities, including bills owed to international contractors, added the paper.
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Other options being considered include a scheme to offer bondholders 80 percent redemption of the value of their holdings, with a similar offer made to bankers, the report continued.
Alternatively, Dubai World may move forward with the plan to seek a general “debt holiday” under the terms of last week’s standstill proposal, by which payments would be frozen until May 30, 2010 with a view to negotiating a rescheduling of all its debts, it said.
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