Dish Network in Talks With Investors to Settle Lawsuit

(Bloomberg) -- Dish Network Corp., the ailing satellite-TV provider with more than $20 billion in debt, is in talks with a group of creditors to resolve a lawsuit tied to a controversial transfer of assets.

A meeting between the company and investors represented by Lazard Inc. and Milbank could take place as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because they aren’t authorized to talk about it. 

Confidential negotiations also include the possible extension of a $2 billion bond issued by Dish DBS due Nov. 15, the people said. The notes last traded at 97.2 cents on the dollar on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Messages left with Milbank, Dish and its legal counsel White & Case weren’t returned. Representatives for Lazard and Houlihan Lokey Inc., the company’s financial adviser, declined to comment. 

A group of creditors sued Dish in April demanding it undo a series of collateral transfers it made earlier in the year to move assets out of reach of bondholders. Dish, which is seeking to transition from pay-TV to wireless services, had transferred a handful of wireless spectrum licenses into a new legal entity and freed a new unit holding 3 million television subscribers from debt covenants, as part of an effort to address its debt stack.

In recent months, Dish’s convertible bondholders have offered to provide new financing, which would be backed by some of these assets. Talks are ongoing. 

(Updates with bond trading price in third paragraph.)

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