What does TV Azteca say?
The Mexican company said in a statement that it will face legal procedures, but it keeps the dialogue path open to reach an agreement.
“The company will face any legal process,” the company said, adding that it will address those processes “responsibly and firmly.”
In the same document, the company controlled by the Mexican tycoon Ricardo Salinas, one of the richest men in Mexico, said that it learned of the legal proceeding initiated by “a minority group of bondholders” through journalistic notes and that it is willing to talk to reach “a favorable agreement for all parties”.
TV Azteca has been under pressure from its creditors for months to pay its debts, which at the end of September amounted to 9.840 million pesos (about 526 million dollars), according to its most recent results report.
In August, the company said that some of its investors had requested early payment of its 2024 bond for a total of $400 million.
The fall in the sale of advertising and the exchange rate reduced the financial results of TV Azteca during the third quarter of 2022, the last financial report delivered by the company. In the period, the net profit of the television station plummeted 96%, until the 4 million pesos compared to the 102 million pesos it obtained in the same period of 2021.
The company has also faced a lawsuit in the last two years with the Mexican tax authorities for the payment of taxes. In August of last year, The Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJA) ruled that TV Azteca had to pay the Tax Administration Service (SAT) 2,615 million 750,000 pesos for Income Tax (ISR), fines and surcharges corresponding to the 2013 fiscal year.
In April 2022, the SAT won another legal dispute that forced the company to pay 2,447 million pesos derived from profits from the sale of shares, for ISR, fines and surcharges.
TV Azteca assured in the statement that it “will continue to work with strict financial discipline”, with the aim of maintaining a “solid operation”.
The shares of TV Azteca they fell more than 5% after learning that a group of creditors is requesting that the company enter into a financial restructuring process in United States.
In the last 12 months, the firm’s shares have fallen by around 20%.