Debt | Readers see Gannett's loan swap in trouble

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Regarding yesterday's nearly incomprehensible statement, extending the deadline for investors to exchange lower-paying loans for higher-paying ones, several reader comments are worth highlighting:

Anonymous@5:10 p.m.: This is not good news, because it indicates GCI got few offers to stretch out its debt. Looks like they are adding another week to the offer to see if they get any bites, but I doubt if they will.
As we all should know by now, GCI has a major debt problem -- about $6 billion in all, of which half is long-term debt, and a quarter coming due next year. GCI wants to stretch out the quarter due next year for another three years in hopes of better things coming along. They are offering debt holders a 3% immediate payment (the $30 on each $1,000) as an inducement.

Anonymous@5:37 p.m.: What this indicates to me is, Gannett is having a hard time finding suckers who are willing to swap their 5.75% notes dues in 2011 for notes due in 2015 -- even though the 2015 notes are paying a whopping 10%.
Why?
Because the holders of those 5.75% notes have some confidence that they will receive their payments in 2011 -- and little confidence that Gannett will even be around in 2015, much less be able to pay off a slew of 10% notes.

Anonymous@11:22 p.m.: This is hardly a positive. Read the discussion about the failure of the GCI bond sale, and you will see that asset sales are soon going to be at the head of the agenda of the Crystal Towers.

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