Cineworld Lender Opposes Priority Status for Pre-Bankruptcy Loans (1)

A Cineworld Group Plc creditor is objecting to the company’s pay-back priority status given to a Blackstone unit and other lenders offering $1.9 billion in bankruptcy financing.

The $1.9 billion includes more than $1.2 billion that the bankrupt movie chain operator owed prior to its bankruptcy filing. And giving “super-priority” to some pre-bankruptcy loans—issued by Cyrus Capital Partners, Blackstone Alternative Credit Advisor, Credit Suisse Asset Management, and others—is improper, Arvest Bank said in an Oct. 14 filing with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Only the $664 million in “new money” provided by the loan should ...