Pearl’s bankers in the driving seat
BANK lenders to Pearl, Hugh Osmond’s struggling insurance group, have won a significant concession in their fight not to accept a major write-off on their £3bn loans.
Pearl’s bankers were recently asked to take a 40 per cent write-off on their loans as part of a £500m injection of equity from a shareholder group, Liberty.
This group has now accepted that it will go ahead with its investment with a write-off from the banks of only around 10 per cent.In the next couple of days, Pearl’s bankers are going to their credit committees to discuss two proposals for sorting Pearl; one involves new equity investment and another plan that would see the banks take control of Pearl.