A French court has approved a safeguard plan proposed by the owners of Paris' skyscraper Coeur Defense and ruled against the seizure of the tower by their creditor banks. Under the plan, owners Lehman Brothers and Atemi will be granted a further two years for the repayment of an asset-backed bond, which will now be due in 2014. They will also continue to manage Coeur Defense and collect rent until 2014, the court ruled.
A French court has approved a safeguard plan proposed by the owners of Paris' skyscraper Coeur Defense and ruled against the seizure of the tower by their creditor banks. Under the plan, owners Lehman Brothers and Atemi will be granted a further two years for the repayment of an asset-backed bond, which will now be due in 2014. They will also continue to manage Coeur Defense and collect rent until 2014, the court ruled.
US investment bank Lehman Brothers teamed up with French property manager Atemi in 2007 to acquire the 182,000 m2 Coeur Defense tower for no less than EUR 2.1 bn. The US investment bank, which collapsed a year ago and whose European business is now managed by administrators PWC, has seen the value of the trophy building halve in the past 18 months.
