NMC creditors are forming a committee for $6.6b debt talks

Dubai: The main lenders to embattled NMC Health Plc are setting up a coordinating committee, taking a major step toward restructuring the hospital operator’s $6.6 billion debt, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc will join Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC to lead the debt talks with representatives for NMC, the people said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. The company was placed in administration last week.

The coordinating committee is set to hire Deloitte LLP and Clifford Chance LLP to advise on the negotiations, the people said. The banks and advisers still have to formally agree on the formation of the committee and its final composition may change, they said.

Representatives for HSBC, Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank declined to comment. Representatives for Deloitte, NMC, Clifford Chance, Barclays and Dubai Islamic Bank didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

NMC is being run by administrators Alvarez & Marsal Inc. after succumbing to creditor demands. Trading in the London-listed company, which was founded by Indian entrepreneur Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty and had a market value of $10 billion at its peak, was suspended in February amid allegations of fraud. It has revealed more than $4 billion of undisclosed borrowings, pushing its total of debt to $6.6 billion.

State-owned Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which is owed $963 million, pushed for administration in a bid to get management to relinquish control.