Mexican non-bank lender Credito Real’s offshore bondholders have considered taking legal action against the non-bank lender in Mexico to recover losses, as per Reuters’ sources. Its offshore bonds have lost over 98% in value ever since it defaulted on its CHF 170mn ($176mn) bond in February. Mexico-based lawyer Teodoro von Harrsch, who represents the shareholders’ group said that bondholders who are collectively due about $2bn are now in early talks about joining legal proceedings led by local minority shareholders. He said, “We are talking with bondholders to see if there’s a (legal) way we can help, we are looking for common ground.” Russia’s Alfa Capital, which holds $150mn of Credito Real’s bonds coupled with UK-based asset manager Abrdn and Los Angeles’ DoubleLine Capital are considering joining the case. In July, some bondholders filed a bankruptcy petition on the distressed Mexican company post which Credito Real was downgraded to D by Fitch. In an analyst note, Fitch said, “As most of the global bonds are unsecured, global bondholders are expected to face higher losses from the defaults… while holders of hybrid securities face the most risk in terms of recovery prospects.”
Credito Real’s offshore bonds are trading at just over 1 cent on the dollar.
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