For municipalities with unsustainable debt loads, there’s always Chapter 9 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. But what do you do if you’re Puerto Rico and you can’t use Chapter 9? Eventually you make your way to the office of Martin Bienenstock, the New York-based head of Proskauer Rose’s restructuring practice.
Puerto Rico carries more than $70 billion in debt, but Bienenstock’s main focus has been $20 billion in debt issued by the commonwealth’s highway, water and electricity authorities. The challenge for him, and for lawyers at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Puerto Rico’s Pietrantoni Mendez & Alvarez, was to establish a framework for restructuring the debt that did not violate the U.S. Constitution, which bars laws that impair contractual obligations. “We wanted to create a dynamic where the parties sit down and reach a consensual deal,” Bienenstock says.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
