Gol bondholders said to hire bankers and oppose debt plan

A group of Gol Linhas Aereas SA’s bondholders views the Brazilian airline’s debt restructuring proposal as unfair and has hired US investment bank Houlihan Lokey to negotiate with the company, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The investor group, representing owners of more than 20% of Gol’s dollar notes, sees the plan as failing to provide equal treatment for all unsecured bondholders, the people said. They asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Creditors represented by Houlihan Lokey say the restructuring proposal protects local bondholders Banco do Brasil and Banco Bradesco, which will face no haircut, while handing out most of the losses to the owners of overseas notes, the people said. The group argues that the airline shouldn’t have used the market price of its bonds as a basis for bondholder haircuts, the people said. They also said the holders of perpetual bonds receive the worst treatment.<br/>