Wednesday, October 4, 2017 11:45 am

LONDON (From news reports) -- The board of Norske Skog has extended the deadline for agreeing a consensual restructuring of the pulp and paper producer by a further two days to Thursday, the second extension for this particular proposal.

Originally the new board said it wanted its creditors to agree to the deal by the close of business on September 29. That seemed possible after the committee of senior secured noteholders agreed to the plan but junior unsecured noteholders blocked the deal.

The senior secureds have already demanded their 290 million defaulted notes be repaid in full but have yet to try and enforce this threat by taking control of the Norwegian company's seven paper mills.

The company said it wanted to use the next two days "to speed up the continued discussions with the various stakeholder groups to try to achieve sufficient support for a consensual recapitalisation solution".

"We believe that the extension of the consent deadline will improve the chances of reaching a solution," said chairman Christen Sveaas.

Under the scheme the senior secureds would take control of the company but a 400 million rights issue, not underwritten, would be open to more junior creditors to allow them to have a greater stake in the resulting equity.

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