Fury as Knapp keeps job at insolvent NTL

Barclay Knapp, the chief executive of NTL, yesterday won a second chance to set the troubled cable company back on track once it has emerged from its financial restructuring.

The decision will stir controversy since Mr Knapp presided over what has become infamous as the world's largest insolvency.

NTL said Mr Knapp would remain in place as chief executive after its bondholders, who are set to take control of the company, gave him their full support. "During this process we have been working closely with Barclay Knapp and know him well. His determination to ensure that NTL continues to prosper and grow is evident in everything he does and we are confident that he is the right man to lead the company going forward," said Brad Eric Scheler, counsel to the creditors' committee.

Some had expected both Mr Knapp and other NTL directors to quit in the wake of the company's $10.6bn (£7.0bn) debt-for-equity swap which involved it having to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.

But NTL said its restructuring plan, backed by the committee of its creditors, provided for "the continuation of Barclay Knapp and his management to lead the newly formed NTL companies" after it emerged from Chapter 11. Members of the committee hold in the aggregate more than 50 per cent of the face value of NTL and its subsidiaries' public bonds.

Mr Knapp, who noted that the company's restructuring remained "on track", said: "I am gratified by the support of the creditors' committee – the future majority owners of the company – for my team."

In addition, the company said that John Gregg, NTL's finance director, would become co-managing director and chief financial officer of NTL Euroco, one of two businesses it will be split into. He will also be CFO of the other business, NTL UK and Ireland, until a successor is found.