Al Jaber Group missed a March repayment on its USD4.5 billion restructured debt. The family-owned group, best known as a contractor, but with interests in a host of other sectors, has struggled after borrowing extensively at the end of the last decade to expand, only to be caught out by a local economic slowdown. The payment missed at end of March covered both the company's debt and the interest due on it. Al Jaber had requested a halt to repayments so that new terms could be negotiated, and the company had promised to put a new debt proposal to creditors at a meeting scheduled for end of April. The debt is held mostly by local and international banks, although some hedge funds and other non-bank financial institutions are said to be amongst the creditor group. (Reuters)