Investor committee misses ABCP deadline – Update

December 23, 2007
National Post
The committee overseeing the restructuring of $33-billion worth of seized asset-backed commercial paper hammered out an agreement in principal Sunday which aims to give investors full repayment if they hold onto the complex investments to maturity and provides for a funding facility of $14-billion through Canadian banks.
“I am confident that this plan will provide most holders of outstanding commercial paper with the opportunity to receive the full repayment of principal by holding restructured notes to maturity,” said Purdy Crawford, chairman of the investors committee, in a statement released Sunday evening. More

December 15, 2007
National Post
In a statement released early this morning, an investor committee overseeing the negotiations said “substantial progress has been achieved in establishing a framework” for the restructuring of 21 ABCP issuing trusts, but that more time is needed to complete the task. As a result the various sides have agreed to a new deadline of January 31, 2008, the committee said. Despite the delay, the committee said it is on track to complete the workout by mid March.
The committee said it is focusing on several key issues including a plan to separate all the trust assets into three groups. The smallest would be for traditional easy-to-value debt obligations. The second would be for investments linked to subprime mortgages, and the third — by far the largest — for risky derivative investments such as leveraged credit default obligations.
This is the second time the so-called Pan Canadian Committee has had to ask for more time and many holders of the illiquid notes have already lost patience. More