After what has been the slowest of slow-motion train wrecks, Puerto Rico’s federal overseers have finally taken the inevitable first step toward considering the use of bankruptcy-ish proceedings, known as Title III, to allow the island to escape it’s $70 billion debt burden. 

Last year Puerto Rico was granted a 1-year temporary stay, courtesy of the so-called Promesa Act passed by Congress, that allowed protection from creditor proceedings in order to allow the debt-burdened island to negotiate a consensual agreement with bondholders. That said, the stay expires on Monday and the government has struggled to make headway in negotiations with creditors.

With $70 billion of debt outstanding, Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring will be the largest ever for the $3.8 trillion municipal-bond market and is also expected to be among the most complicated as well with the commonwealth’s debt issued by more than a dozen agencies and backed by sometimes competing repayment pledges. 

As Bloomberg notes, the board also took steps to wind down the island’s government development bank which was used to finance multiple public projects but also defaulted on debt obligations.

Separately, the board approved winding down Puerto Rico’s government development bank, which financed public works on the island until it defaulted during the crisis, and increasing water rates as part of a plan to steady the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority. Details of those fiscal proposals haven’t yet been released.

“This will provide a viable path for an orderly process for the Government Development Bank with the least impact for stakeholders involved,” said Elias Sanchez, Governor Ricardo Rossello’s representative on the federal board.

Of course, the shear size of bondholder losses are sure to make the restructuring process quite contentious. The following $3.5 billion in 8% general obligation notes of 2035 were issued in March 2014 and have pretty much traded in one direction ever since. 

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