NTL said that agreement had been reached “in principle on recapitalisation terms with an unofficial committee of public bondholders”, it added that all company operations remain unaffected by the agreement and that the “debt reduction [would] produce over $800 million annual interest savings.
The company’s operations are to be divided into two with one company – provisionally called NTL UK and Ireland – will control all UK and Ireland assets and another – NTL Euroco – will hold certain European and other assets. NTL stressed that services will continue uninterrupted during this restructuring of its businesses.
NTL president and CEO, Barclay Knapp, said: “The agreement in principle we are announcing today is a major step towards our goal of ensuring the successful completion of the recapitalisation that NTL announced in January. We are currently working with all parties in our capital structure, including the CompanyÂ’s bank lenders, to finalise these arrangements. The US-based Chapter 11 process will allow NTL to reorganise and re-emerge stronger and healthier and without affecting operations.”
