MediaNews lenders agree to defer debt payment - NYT

April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. publisher MediaNews Group [ANII.UL], owner of the Denver Post newspaper, has reached agreements with creditors allowing it to delay payments on certain debt, the New York Times said late Thursday citing people briefed on the matter.

The privately-held newspaper publisher will forego payments to its lenders due March 31 according to a forebearance agreement with its banks, led by Bank of America (BAC.N), the paper said in its DealBook column.

As part of efforts to preserve cash MediaNews stopped having rating agency Standard & Poors (S&P) rate its debt, the NYT said.

S&P Ratings Services had cut its rating on MediaNews' secured debt in March deeper into junk grade on declining cash flows at the company. [ID:nWNA9360]

Reuters efforts to contact MediaNews outside regular business hours were unsuccesful. (Reporting by Vikram Subhedar in Bangalore)