Global Crossing, the bankrupt firm which has a €126 million contract with the Government, said yesterday it had received court approval for its restructuring plan. The approval paves the way for the telecoms provider to emerge from bankruptcy protection (Chapter 11) next year, following negotiations which lasted almost a year.
The approval comes two weeks before the US firm is paid a final €7 million instalment from the Government under its €126 million deal to provide telecoms connectivity. A Government spokesman yesterday said this payment would be made in the next few weeks. The Government has paid Global Crossing almost €70 million to link the Republic to the US firm's international network. So far just a few firms have expressed an interest in using the network.
Meanwhile, Global Crossing will still have to wait for regulatory approval for the sale of its high-speed network to two Asian investors before it can emerge from bankruptcy protection. The firm - still the subject of several federal investigations into its accounting practices and possible insider trading by its chairman - expects the approval to come within the next few months.
That would enable Global Crossing - which filed one of the biggest ever US bankruptcies - to emerge from bankruptcy sometime in the first quarter of 2003.
Another telecoms firm which had a transatlantic link with the Republic, 360networks, recently emerged from US bankruptcy protection. But the firm has sold its Irish operations to another US firm Columbia Ventures.
