Channel Nine and potential insolvency: still the one

On 17 October 2012, Nine Entertainment announced that it had reached an agreement with representatives of its senior and junior lenders with respect to a restructuring of its financing arrangements. Prior to the announcement, recent business press had been dominated by reports of Nine Entertainment's potential insolvency.

From the information at hand it appears that, but for the agreement of the three major stakeholders (senior lenders, junior lenders and the company itself), an insolvency appointment would have been the likely outcome. Given the protracted negotiations, it is timely to consider what influenced the parties' decision-making, as well as what might have occurred if the parties failed to reach an agreement.