A-TEC Strikes Creditor Deal, Seeks Investor By June

Austrian technology and engineering group A-TEC struck a deal with creditors on Wednesday to repay 47 percent of its debts and agreed to find an outside investor by June 30 as a way to avoid bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The insolvent industrial conglomerate with more than 11,000 employees was under pressure to find a solution with creditors by a Jan. 20 deadline. Georg Kantner of the Austrian creditor's association KSV said the deal had bought time to find an investor and provided a realistic chance for a turnaround. A-TEC became insolvent after its unit Austria Energy & Environment (AE&E), an international provider of thermal power generation systems and environmental technologies, was forced into insolvency. The remaining units of A-TEC would be allowed to continue operating, Kanter said. A-TEC began restructuring in October after failing to refinance a bond and obtain a bridge loan, its own insolvency largely caused by AE&E's losses. Read more.