TV Azteca creditors push for involuntary bankruptcy -court filing

A group of three creditors have filed a petition in the United States for Mexico’s TV Azteca to enter bankruptcy involuntarily, alleging the broadcaster is not paying the $63.32 million it owes them.

The bondholders, Luxembourg-based Plenisfer Investments SICAV, New York-based Cyrus Capital Partners and Sandpiper Ltd, registered in the Cayman Islands, filed the Chapter 11 petition on Monday in a federal court in New York.

They are represented by New York law firm Akin Gump, which also represented a group of bondholders in a similar suit against Mexican nonbank lender Credito Real CREAL.MX, which collapsed after defaulting on a bond last year.

Controlled by Mexican business magnate Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the broadcaster has faced months of pressure from its creditors to pay up on its debts, which at the end of September it said amounted at 9.84 billion pesos ($526 million).

This was down from 12.6 billion pesos ($674 million) a year earlier as the company settled some outstanding certificates.

“As always, the company will face any legal process started by minority bondholders,” TV Azteca said in a statement. “We will respond responsibly and strongly, knowing that we have the law and ethics on our side, and that the judiciary will uphold that.”

TV Azteca last month postponed its earnings report for the last quarter of 2022, without giving a specific date. XM