SAO PAULO – Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao failed to reach an agreement with creditors on its restructuring plan after a new round of meetings, it said on Wednesday, ahead of an April 1 bondholders assembly.
The company, a joint venture between Vale and BHP Group, said in a statement it presented bondholders with "significant improvements" to its restructuring proposal, but no deal had been reached.
Creditors of Samarco had suspended an assembly earlier this month after the company came up with the new restructuring proposal, offering an alternative to pay them with hybrid bonds that would distribute part of Samarco's cash flow. Read full story
Bondholders, that had rejected Samarco's previous proposal, agreed to reconvene on April 1 to vote on the offer. They could also push for an alternative plan, but Samarco said their proposal was inviable.
"The company demonstrated payment prospects and commitments to creditors in the short, medium and long term... (But) it was not possible to reach to date an agreement due to the inviability of some of the most recent bondholder proposals with the business plan of the company," Samarco said.
"The proposals presented by the funds put at risk the maintenance and the full resumption of Samarco's operations," it added.
Samarco said that it remains in contact with bondholders' advisors to reach a "viable agreement that meets the interests of all parties."