I am not sure if this has already been posted. This article is...

I am not sure if this has already been posted. This article is written in a very negative light. They keep talking about how Centro will not survive yet one year on and its still here. Please Explain....
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Ben Butler

May 31, 2008 12:00am

EMBATTLED shopping centre empire Centro looks poised to announce that a key debt deadline it met yesterday will keep bankers owed about $2.8 billion at bay until the end of September.

Yesterday, the company went into a trading halt, telling the stock exchange it would make an announcement "prior to the opening of trade on Monday".

Market sources said the company met yesterday's deadline.

Under its agreement with the syndicate of lenders, Centro had until yesterday to find an extra $100 million for its liquidity facility, currently running at $55 million, and obtain consent from its financiers to sell assets.

It is believed the new $100 million was provided by Centro's existing bankers, which include the CBA, ANZ, JPMorgan and WestLB.

The expanded liquidity facility is to be used for capital expenditure, meet higher interest costs and pay Centro's legion of advisers.

Analysts said there was still uncertainty about the company's long-term future, with its financiers having already written off some of their exposure.

"At some point banks will decide they've got as much as they can (out of Centro) - they have already taken provisions," one analyst said.

Plans to sell the whole of the company's $1.1 billion Centro America Fund would not be enough to save the company, the analyst said.

"It would be a marginal positive, but not enough to pay down the full debt," the analyst said.