b&b still battling to resolve crisis, page-4

Tightrope lengthens

THE Babcock & Brown pendulum swung back towards negative territory yesterday, but the longer talks proceed, the more chance it has of survival.

The banks worked into the early hours of yesterday morning and all day yesterday, as local banks tried to talk the internationals into agreeing to a stay of execution and an extra $200 million in the kicker.

Of course, bank agreement is one thing; the Babcock board has to be comfortable with the outcome. The good news for the satellites is that the management companies can stay solvent, even if the head stock fails. In fact, the satellites would arguably do better without the head stock.

There will be a few things to sort out, of course, but survival is theoretically possible.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24717722-5013408,00.html