Kramer Levin has represented OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisers, two of the largest investors in Puerto Rico, with respect to all of their $10 billion of Puerto Rico investments, including investments in General Obligation Bonds and COFINA Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, as well as in restructuring negotiations with Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico’s numerous other creditors, since June 2014. With Congress’ passage of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), the first major piece of new bankruptcy legislation since 2005, on June 30, 2016, and the appointment of an oversight board for Puerto Rico on Aug. 31, 2016, Kramer Levin continues to play an active role in the restructuring negotiations and proceedings on behalf of Franklin and Oppenheimer in 2017.
As part of its ongoing work with Franklin and Oppenheimer, Kramer Levin represents the $3.1 billion Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Ad Hoc Bondholder Group in its restructuring negotiations with the authority. Beginning in June 2014, we helped our clients and various PREPA creditors take a lead role in supporting a forbearance agreement and consensual restructuring negotiations with PREPA. In 2016, Kramer Levin was instrumental in propelling the RSA settlement forward. We worked closely with commonwealth advisers on various aspects of the RSA, including negotiating documentation to create one of the most protective utility securitizations on record. We also negotiated numerous amendments to the RSA, and negotiated and consummated three bond purchase transactions to aid PREPA in its liquidity issues. Today, we continue to play a key role in finalizing the RSA settlement and guiding it through the new PROMESA framework.
In November, Puerto Rico elected a new governor, and its Legislative Assembly switched hands. We remain hopeful that the PREPA deal will be consummated under the new administration, and look forward to working with the new administration and the Oversight Board in 2017.