Queens Moat Houses deadline is extended

QUEENS Moat Houses' 65 banks have agreed to extend the standstill facility on its debts beyond the deadline of 31 January, according to a spokesman for the company.

A new deadline has yet to be set, but the spokesman said it should give the banks enough time to see the hotel chain's results for the 1993 calendar year and the end-of-year valuation of the hotels being prepared by Jones Lang Wootton, the chartered surveyor.

Until the shares were suspended on 31 March last year, the results were usually released in the first week of April.

The banks are in talks with Queens Moat's new management which are expected to lead to a substantial debt-for-equity swap.

Representatives of the mortgage debenture holders, which include Legal & General, Sun Life Assurance, Standard Life, Norwich Union, Equitable Life and Eagle Star, are also expected to have talks with the company's representatives in the near future.

In a surprise move Gary Klesch of Klesch & Co, which is a holder of mortgage debentures, has refused an invitation to join the steering committee.

Observers have speculated that he did not want to become privy to confidential information that would have stopped him from trading the stock.

'To sit on such a committee and sign confidentiality agreements which prevent the dissemination of information to a class of securities goes against my principle that there should be a wider supply of information to all creditors,' said Mr Klesch.