Nokia, Operbes, Axtel and Marcatel are the companies that rejected Altán’s bankruptcy agreement to restructure 30,000 million pesos

Arbor Redes came out this Thursday, November 3, from the process of commercial bankruptcyafter getting 93.68% of its 119 creditors to accept its payment proposal that establishes the payment methods and who will be the first creditors to which this telecommunications company will fulfill its financial commitments, which all added together mean a debt of 29,811.82 million pesosabout 1,517 million dollars.

The 6.32% of the remaining creditors who rejected the proposal established by the bankruptcy agreement already ratified by a judge specializing in commercial bankruptcy, is made up of the companies Operbes, Nokia Solutions & Networks, Nokia Operations de Mexico, Axtel and by Marcatel Com.

More in detail, it is a company builder and operator of fixed infrastructure on fiber optic inputs; It is also about two companies component suppliers for radio bases and cellular antennas, as well as by two companies that offer services of corporate telecommunications.

To these creditors, the company Altán Redes owes them money equivalent to 251 million 004,637.99 Investment Units (UDI), which translated into the value of a UDI for this Friday, November 4, set by the Bank of Mexicoof 7.586386 pesos, means that Altán owes these companies a total of 1,904 million 218,071.58 pesosabout 97.47 million dollars.

These creditors, considered in legal matters as dissenting creditorsdeparted from the result of the bankruptcy agreement because, in their opinion, the company Altán Redes circulated different versions of the bankruptcy agreement proposal; because, in your opinion, they also had no access to financial analysisprojections and/or models used by Altán and by the bankruptcy conciliator appointed for this commercial bankruptcy process, to carry out and submit to a vote the bankruptcy agreement that they ended up rejecting.

Dissatisfied creditors also argued that Altán had failed to comply with the terms of a contract called “New Money”, which affected their interests.

According to the ruling of the First Judge of Commercial Bankruptcy, Olga Borja Cárdenas, Altán’s biggest debt with these creditors is the one it has contracted with the company Nokia Operations de México, with 84.80 million UDIs, in round numbers; followed by the debt with Nokia Solutions & Networks, with 79.43 million UDIs. Altán owes 47.48 million UDIs to Axtel; another 37.77 million UDIs to Operbes and 15 million UDIs to Marcatel Com.

These creditors they have nine days from this Friday, November 4 to present an appeal against the sentence of Judge Borja Cárdenas and the new judge could accept the arguments of the complainants and modify the sentence of the judge or deny the favor of the law to these creditors and thereby become latest companyto which Altán Redes will pay the contracted debt.

Jose Alberto Lopez-Torrespartner of the firm GLZ Abogados, specializing in insolvency proceedings and bankruptcy litigation, and attorney for one of the creditors who did accept the bankruptcy agreement proposed by Altán Redes, indicated that the debtor company will first pay those entities that injected fresh capital to keep the operation of the call Shared network of wholesale services of telecommunications that operates Altán.

In this way, the development bank, made up of Banobras, Bancomext y Name, and who recently injected $161 million into Altán, will be the first to get their money back. There are creditors of the common type and with collateral, López-Torres said.

“Complaining creditors may go to a court of appeals, but for now the bankruptcy agreement was approved with the 51% required by law, because the bankruptcy agreement is viable for the rest of the creditors who did approve it,” said the attorney for the firm GLZ Lawyers.

According to the business plan that Altán Redes exhibited at the time, the context is viable for the interests of all, for the benefit of all Mexicans, because Altán is once again on track to fulfill its objective of bringing connectivity to most of the Mexican Republic. By signing the bankruptcy agreement with 94% of the creditors, it is shown that it is a plan that suits everyone”, said José Alberto López-Torres.

Altán, one year in bankruptcy

Altán Redes, a wholesale telecommunications services operator with a national scope in Mexico, managed to get out this Thursday, November 3, of the commercial bankruptcy process to which submitted since mid-2021 to restructure a debt close to 30,000 million pesos that it maintains with more than a hundred creditors for the construction, maintenance and operation of the infrastructure of its telephone and Internet network with which it currently serves seven million Mexicans.

This Thursday, the First Judge of Commercial Bankruptcy, Olga Borja Cardenasapproved the bankruptcy agreement through which Altán Redes and the bankruptcy conciliator appointed for this process, Gerardo Sierra Arrazolathey proposed the times and methods of payment to the creditors.

According to the files 163/2021-VIII and 8/2022-II of the First District Court for Bankruptcy Matters, residing in Mexico City, Altán Redes and his conciliator obtained the support of 94% of the creditors for the bankruptcy agreement.

Last Thursday, October 20, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) resolved through its resolution P/IFT/EXT/201022/16 that he would not exercise his power to veto the insolvency agreement presented by Altán, with which the process before the courts in matters of commercial insolvency was accelerated.

With this ruling, Altán Redes manages, for now, to move away from bankruptcy and time to continue negotiating with its creditors, and allocate resources to infrastructure deployments to reach a population coverage of 92% for the year 2024, according to its telecommunications granting title. The company now exceeds 71% of that coverage.

Gazebo Redes, el fourth investor in telecommunications in Mexico with approximately 1,000 million dollars of investment in 2019, reported on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 that a global economic and financial context, as well as a depressed economy of the Mexican consumer, made it difficult for it to maintain its pace of investment in the construction or contracting of infrastructure and at the same time recover money flow for reinvestment and payment of supplies to its suppliers.

In June this year, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that the federal government, through development banks, would inject 161 million dollars into the company, with which Altán Redes became, up to now, the only company rescued by the 4T with public money and then the government took control of the company and appointed a new general management, which weeks later raised the possibility of Altán offering its services to the final consumer from the 700 MHz band that it has as its sole concessionaire.