NTL misses £67m interest payment

The troubled cable company NTL said it would not make a $96m (£67m) interest payment due yesterday on certain of its bonds, prompting speculation a financial restructuring is nearing completion.

The troubled cable company NTL said it would not make a $96m (£67m) interest payment due yesterday on certain of its bonds, prompting speculation a financial restructuring is nearing completion.

The company, which is holding crisis talks over how to cut its £12bn debt pile, said the decision had been made with the blessing of its bondholders. It added its bank lenders also continued to be "supportive" of its recapitalisation plans.

Withholding the interest payments, NTL said, was not expected to affect the normal course of its business operations in the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe.

The move came at the request of an unofficial committee of the company's bondholders, although NTL said it would make a final decision on whether to make the payments within the 30-day grace period before the payments are technically in default.

It said it had sufficient liquidity to make the current interest payments, if it decided to later this month. Its existing cash flows will be topped up with the expected net proceeds of $300m from the sale of its Australian broadcast business, which is due to complete today.

Sources familiar with NTL's byzantine debt structure said they believed the company would make a different interest payment, due today, on bonds held by its subsidiary called Diamond. The sum owed is thought to be significantly less than half the $96m it is refusing to pay on externally held bonds.

While NTL refused to comment yesterday, it is thought the company is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US as a way to push through a restructuring that would almost certainly involve a debt-for-equity swap.

Last week the company warned it was running out of time to put a rescue package together, although it said it was hopeful of getting a deal done by the end of June.