Lee Panavision Reaches Accord to Restructure Debt

Lee Panavision International Inc., which owns the Panavision camera-equipment company in Tarzana, said it reached agreement with its 17-member bank group on a restructuring of its debt.

The privately held New York-based company did not release details about the size of the debt or the restructuring terms. However, the debt was largely incurred in 1987-88, when Panavision changed owners twice.

In late 1988, a group led by the investment bankers E. M. Warburg, Pincus & Co. bought most of Westward Communications, a London-based concern that had purchased Panavision a year earlier, and assumed what was then listed as $340 million of Westward’s debt. Westward was renamed Lee Panavision.

The bank agreement caps two years of negotiations on restructuring the debt, and Lee Panavision said it expects “no difficulty” in meeting the new payment schedules reached with the banks.

Panavision is a leading provider of cameras, lenses and lighting equipment to the movie and television industries.