WorldCom on verge of bankruptcy claim

THE disgraced telecom's group WorldCom could file for bankruptcy as early as today in a move which may leave the company's bondholders out in the cold.

Sources familiar with the situation said a bankruptcy filing would not include a pre-negotiated debt-for-equity swap as some bondholders had hoped.

About 30 of WorldCom’s largest institutional bondholders had been in talks with the company for weeks to secure a deal that would guarantee them an ownership stake in the reorganised company in exchange for their debt holdings.