Charter lenders can’t block emergence, judge says
NEW YORK — Charter Communications Inc.’s lenders, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., lost a bid Wednesday to block the cable communications company from leaving bankruptcy.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein affirmed Bankruptcy Judge James Peck’s Nov. 23 decision to deny the lenders’ request for a stay while they appeal his confirmation of Charter’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
The lenders said Peck was improperly requiring them to continue lending $8.4 billion to Town & Country-based Charter on pre-bankruptcy terms once it leaves court protection. The lender group also has challenged the company’s settlement with Paul Allen, Charter’s chairman.
Charter plans to exit bankruptcy through a series of transactions that sheds $8 billion in debt, and raises $1.6 billion via a rights offering. Charter has said it wants to exit Chapter 11 this month.
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