BTA submits restructuring plan to FSA

BTA Bank has reportedly submitted its restructuring plan to Kazakhstan’s Financial Supervision Agency (FSA) on Friday, the bank said without providing further details. The FSA confirmed the receipt of the plan.

“[BTA has] submitted a plan but we do not have some appendices to it,” Reuters quoted FSA head Yelena Bakhmutova as saying on Friday. “They promised to submit the necessary information and will probably do it today.”

In August, the FSA set a deadline of September 18 for BTA to present a plan to restructure its $10.3-billion debt.

Earlier this month, BTA proposed several debt restructuring options to its creditors which would allow it to reduce its debt by $8 billion. The options included a cash buyback with an 82.25-percent discount, two medium-term rollover options and a conversion into equity at an 80-percent discount.

The bank has been in continuous talks with the creditors’ steering committee but some analysts suggested that no all creditors were on board with the proposed restructuring options. Moreover, the proposed restructuring did not clarify whether it would include trade finance - a controversial issue.

Silk Road Intelligencer.