title: Puerto Rico's PREPA says will make full debt payment on Friday
text: SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Puerto Rico’s semi-public power utility, known as PREPA, on Thursday said it would make all of a $415 million debt payment due on Friday, a relief for bond insurers who might have been on the hook in the event of default.     PREPA, which had been on the brink of collapse under $8.3 billion in debt, last year reached an exchange deal with most of its creditors, which is being finalized. On Thursday, the utility said it would make its $415 million payment using operational funds and proceeds from the new bond sales. “Today’s outcome is another step toward PREPA’s transformation,” Lisa Donahue, the utility’s chief restructuring officer, said in a statement. The payment is not a shock because PREPA and its creditors have had the framework of a restructuring deal in place since December. But debt payments in the U.S. territory are being watched closely as the island is expected to default on pieces of $1.9 billion owed on Friday, and President Barack Obama prepares to sign a bill putting the island’s finances under federal oversight. Puerto Rico faces $70 billion in total debt, a stalled economy, and high poverty and unemployment. The $1.9 billion due on Friday - of which PREPA’s payment was a portion - includes nearly $800 million in general obligation (GO) debt, the island’s highest-ranking debt protected by a constitutional pledge. It was unclear on Thursday whether Puerto Rico would make that payment. On Wednesday night, the U.S. Senate passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which Obama has said he will sign, providing for a bankruptcy-like debt restructuring process for Puerto Rico, as well as federal oversight of its finances. While PROMESA contemplates a stay on litigation in the event of default, missed payments matter for the insurers who have to pay out on claims. MBIA’s National Public Finance Guarantee insures about $139 million of the PREPA payment due on Friday, while Assured Guaranty covers about $35 million. National insures another $211 million in other debt due on Friday, including $173 million in GO debt, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. Assured covers another $329 million due Friday, about $184 million of which is GO debt, a spokeswoman said. Ambac, which insures more than $2 billion of Puerto Rican bonds, is on the hook for $122 million in principal and interest due on Friday, including some $40 million in GO or GO-guaranteed debt, according to the company’s public documents. 