(Reuters) - New Zealand's Fletcher Building Ltd <FBU.NZ> said on Thursday its lenders had extended waivers for breaches of its financial covenants until the end of May as the company sought to re-negotiate its agreements in the wake of heavy losses in its commercial building business.
The company said in a statement to the stock exchange that it was still in discussions with its syndicate lenders to re-work its agreements, which had been breached by a massive cost blow-out and delays in major projects in its building and interiors unit.
The waivers for Fletcher's U.S. Private Placement and bank syndicate funding arrangements were initially put in place in late February and early March and have now been extended until May 31.
Fletcher, which reaffirmed its fiscal 2018 guidance, had originally hoped to wrap up discussions with its lenders by the end of March and said it would have to seek further extensions if talks ran past the new May deadline.
"Under the terms of the new waiver, the syndicate lenders have now provided access to the company's full syndicate funding facilities," Fletcher said in the statement.
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Adrian Croft)
