A Mexican court ordered TV Azteca SAB de CV, owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, not to present financial information to the public to avoid causing “uncertainty,” throwing another wrench into a legal battle with the holders of $400 million of its defaulted bonds.
(Bloomberg) — A Mexican court ordered TV Azteca SAB de CV, owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, not to present financial information to the public to avoid causing “uncertainty,” throwing another wrench into a legal battle with the holders of $400 million of its defaulted bonds.
The ruling also exempts the company from publishing its financial statements for the first quarter, after it delayed reporting its fourth-quarter results to just before a limit that would have triggered a halt to trading in its stock.
TV Azteca shares fell as much as 3.2% on Thursday, and closed down 1.5%. Mexican companies faced a May 3 limit to present their first-quarter results — the local stock exchange may suspend trading in shares if firms exceed that limit by 20 days.
The company said in a statement late Wednesday that it will comply with the ruling of the Mexico City court. The same court had previously blocked it from making bond payments last year, arguing that TV Azteca was not obligated to honor payments until the World Health Organization officially declared the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. The WHO made that decision last Friday, opening uncertainty on the impact on the legal sparring.
Read more: End-of-Pandemic Call Gives Shot to Defaulted Azteca Bondholders
The battle started in 2021, when TV Azteca stopped paying the bonds maturing in 2024 while still paying other debts in Mexico. Investors had sued the company last year in the US, seeking to force it to pay up, while TV Azteca sued them in Mexico.
In late March, a group of the creditors filed a petition to force the Mexican broadcaster into involuntary bankruptcy in the US. Azteca has argued that it does not have any assets in the US and is seeking to dismiss the suit. TV Azteca stock has shed 30% since creditors filed their petition on March 20.
TV Azteca has said said it wanted to restructure the debt because it was under rising pressure from falling advertising sales during the pandemic. TV Azteca said in its Wednesday statement that it will continue working with “strict financial discipline,” without providing further details on the ruling.
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