NMC Health Plc’s biggest creditors have set up a coordinating committee, taking a major step toward restructuring the $6.6 billion debt pile of the Middle Eastern hospital operator.
The company asked Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC to chair a coordinating committee of debtholders, NMC’s acting chief executive officer, Michael Davis, wrote in a letter to lenders dated Monday. Deloitte and Clifford Chance LLP have been appointed to advise the committee while Lazard Ltd. will work with its chair, according to the letter, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc will join Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank to form an initial steering group that will lead talks with NMC, the letter shows. They will invite other lenders to join the wider coordinating committee, which will work to support NMC’s recapitalisation strategy.
NMC is being run by administrators Alvarez & Marsal Inc. after succumbing to creditor demands. Antonio Alvarez III, who leads A&M’s European practice, and managing director Maxim Frangulov are advising the NMC board and are poised to be appointed co-chief restructuring officers of the group’s main subsidiaries, according to Monday’s letter.
The company plans to hold a call with all lenders April 20 to provide details on the proposed process, the letter shows.
Trading in London-listed NMC, which was founded by Indian entrepreneur Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty and had a market value of $10 billion at its peak, was suspended in February amid allegations of fraud. It has revealed more than $4 billion of undisclosed borrowings, pushing its total debt to $6.6 billion.
State-controlled Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank had pushed for administration in a bid to get management to relinquish control. A London court granted its request last week.
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