Senior loan holders lose Charter bankruptcy battle

Bloomberg and others report that Charter Communications has won its court battle to exit bankruptcy with $11.8 billion of pre-petition debt reinstated. US federal bankruptcy judge James Peck has yet to issue a formal ruling on the case, but Charter is reported as saying that it now expects to emerge from bankruptcy shortly.

The judge apparently rejected the argument of JP Morgan, representing senior lenders, that a change in control of the company had occurred that breached loan covenants. The case rested on the question of whether or not private equity buyers were acting as a group, which would have triggered the change-of-control clause.