Anil Ambani's under-sea cable business, Global Cloud Xchange has filed for bankruptcy protection after reaching a deal with senior bondholders. As a part of the bankruptcy protection deal the company has handed control of the company to the bondholders with higher exposure.

The move comes after GCX missed a payment on $350 million 7 percent bonds that matured on August 01. As a result of this, the company initiated a pre-packaged chapter 12 restructuring after clearance by 75 percent of lenders. As per the terms of the transaction, GCX’s senior secured noteholders would become owners of the Company and provide new loans to support and grow the business.

The company also will use the protections and framework of Chapter 11 to undertake a sale process that welcomes additional prospective buyers. GCX expects to complete the Chapter 11 process within Q4CY19, subject to all required regulatory approvals.

The company has said that customers, suppliers and employees should expect to work as usual under the Chapter 12 process. As part of its chapter 12 filing GCX will also compensate employees as usual.

"We appreciate the strong collaboration with our lenders, which has resulted in a Plan of Reorganisation that allows us to honour our commitments to employees, customers and suppliers while also securing a financially strong future for our business,” said Bill Barney, Chairman and CEO of GCX.

“We are a fundamentally strong company, providing mission-critical, expertly managed network solutions for telecommunications, global enterprise and OTT customers. The steps we are announcing today will allow us to continue to build on our strengths and emerge as an even stronger employer and business partner”, he added.

First Published:Sept 16, 2019 9:07 PM IST