EXHIBIT 4 

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:23482-4 Filed:02/03/23 Entered:02/03/23 17:38:41 Desc:

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s power company appears destined for an 

even longer bankruptcy than expected after several creditors rejected a new debt 

restructuring plan filed late Friday following years of failed negotiations. 

A federal control board that oversees the island’s finances filed a plan that proposes to 

cut by nearly half the more than $10 billion of debt held by Puerto Rico’s Electric Power 

Authority, the largest of any local government agency. 

Board chairman David Skeel warned that residents and businesses in the U.S. territory 

will “shoulder the payments of this greatly reduced debt through their electricity bill.” 

“However, (the power company) needs to move on, and Puerto Rico needs reliable 

electricity,” he said. 

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:23482-4 Filed:02/03/23 Entered:02/03/23 17:38:41 Desc:

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The announcement riled many Puerto Ricans already burdened by a deep economic 

crisis and recent power bill increases despite chronic outages blamed in part on 

crumbling infrastructure resulting from decades of neglect and mismanagement. 

The board noted that two classes of creditors agreed to support the plan, surpassing a 

legal requirement that at least one has to support it for a federal judge to implement it 

across the board. 

Skeel noted that no agreement was reached with the holders and guarantors of $7.6 

billion worth of power company bonds, adding that the plan would allow them to join a 

settlement class as one option. 

“Puerto Rico residents and businesses simply cannot pay what some creditors demand 

at this point,” he said, adding that the board is open to further negotiations. “We hope 

we will find a viable compromise.” 

The Ad Hoc Group, which includes companies that hold or insure nearly half of the 

power company’s debt, rejected the plan, calling it “highly coercive” and warned it 

would only serve to extend the company’s nearly six-year-long bankruptcy. 

“The biggest losers in this debacle are the island’s residents,” said Stephen Spencer of 

Houlihan Lokey, the group’s financial adviser. 

The drawn-out bankruptcy already has cost more than $200 million in legal fees as 

litigation and mediation talks continue. 

Spencer noted the power company has reneged on three debt restructuring deals since 

2015, with Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announcing in March that he was rejecting the newest 

plan because it wasn’t feasible or in the island’s best interest. 

A federal judge overseeing Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy case ordered a fresh round of 

mediation talks in September after the previous ones failed. 

Puerto Rico has restructured nearly all its debt since announcing in 2015 that it was 

unable to pay its more than $70 billion public debt load and filed for the biggest U.S. 

municipal bankruptcy in history two years later. 

The power company’s debt is the only one pending, and resolving it is considered key to 

help attract investors to the island and boost its economic development. 

https://apnews.com/article/business-puerto-rico-bankruptcy-bd8636c8a7a33221b571867986b7ebba

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:23482-4 Filed:02/03/23 Entered:02/03/23 17:38:41 Desc:

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