Dubai World, the state-owned holding company in talks to renegotiate about $26 billion of debt, will ask banks for permission to delay loan repayments when it presents a plan this month, said three bankers familiar with the negotiations.
Banks may be able to avoid a so-called haircut, where they receive less money than they're owed, if they wait to be repaid, said two of the bankers, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. The banks may also receive a guarantee from Dubai's government, one of the bankers said.
Dubai World and its Nakheel PJSC and Limitless LLC property units used loans to finance real estate projects such as palm tree-shaped islands off the emirate's coast, which they struggled to refinance amid the credit crisis. Dubai World said in November it would seek to delay repaying all loans until May, sparking the biggest plunge in developing-nation stocks.
Deloitte LLP and Moelis & Co., Dubai World's advisers, are asking the Dubai Financial Support Fund for more money to fund interest payments on the loans in the meantime, the bankers said. Dubai World will primarily rely on asset sales to finance the payments, bankers said. Spokesmen for Dubai World and the Dubai Financial Support Fund declined to comment.
Dubai World will approach lenders for the first time this week with a plan to restructure its debt, Financial Times reported Monday. The company asked creditors to meetings in London on Monday, the newspaper said.
