Mashantuckets release debt restructuring data

Mashantucket - The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe has released information it had kept confidential regarding the $2.2 billion debt-restructuring agreement it announced two months ago.

In a statement Friday, the tribe, which owns Foxwoods Resort Casino, said it had posted the information on two websites - IntraLinks, which is only accessible to investors and potential investors, and the Electronic Municipal Markets Access, or EMMA, system, accessible to the public.

The information "has been reviewed by certain lenders and bondholders of the tribe's debt," the tribe said in its statement.

The tribe had announced Aug. 2 that it had reached agreements with steering committees representing bondholders and other lenders after nearly three years of negotiations that began after the tribe defaulted on the terms of some of its debt.

Scott Butera, Foxwoods' president and chief executive officer, said Monday that the information made available Friday had previously been shared only with "restricted" investors — those who had signed the restructuring agreements.

"In order for those folks to be relieved of restrictions, we had to share (the information) with everybody," he said.

At the time the restructuring agreements were announced, Butera said the restructuring would "significantly reduce" the tribe's debt though he did not say by how much.

"To date," the tribe said in its latest announcement, "holders of the majority of each class of the tribe's debt securities have executed agreements in support of the restructuring. In the meantime, MPTN (the tribe) is working toward broadening support and implementing the restructuring plan."

Under the plan, the tribe's credit line with a banking syndicate and loans from Kien Huat, the Malaysian investment company that originally bankrolled Foxwoods, would be restructured into two term loans with five- and seven-year maturities, respectively. Senior bondholders would receive new securities with extended maturities of 13, 18 and 23 years based on the seniority of the existing bonds.

In addition, Bank of America and Wells Fargo would arrange a $30 million working capital facility for the tribe.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com