Carter Hawley Gets Good News From Creditor : * Retail: Deal to defer some payments gives the Broadway’s parent a boost in its effort to emerge from bankruptcy this year.

Carter Hawley Hale Stores, owner of the Broadway department store chain, said Friday that its largest unsecured creditor has agreed to defer some debt payments for five years, giving a financial boost to the retailer’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy later this year.

The agreement involves $344 million that the Los Angeles-based retailer owes the Prudential Insurance Co. of North America. Carter Hawley Hale spokesman Bill Dombrowski called the deal a “significant step” toward the company’s emergence from bankruptcy and said that Carter Hawley Hale would be seeking similar deals with other secured creditors as it attempts to restructure its debts under bankruptcy court protection.

“This is a significant step to facilitate our emergence from bankruptcy,” Dombrowski said of the Prudential agreement.

Reeling from debt it took on to defeat a 1987 takeover attempt, Carter Hawley Hale sought bankruptcy protection from its creditors last February. The filing allowed the company to halt payments on its debts, which included $350 million in junk bonds.

A Chicago-based investment fund run by corporate scavenger Sam Zell became Carter Hawley Hale’s largest unsecured creditor in October when it paid creditors 47 cents on the dollar for their claims. The Zell-Chilmark Fund has approved the agreement with Prudential, Dombrowski said.

The agreement is contingent on bankruptcy court approval. It also needs approval from a special committee that is investigating the propriety of certain financial dealings surrounding Carter Hawley’s 1987 restructuring. Seth M. Hufstedler, an attorney to the committee, said the group would review the agreement and make a decision by a Jan. 15 deadline.

Specifically, the agreement with Prudential allows Carter Hawley Hale to defer $23 million in interest payments for the first two years after it emerges from bankruptcy. Under the agreement, repayment of principal is delayed for five years from Carter Hawley’s emergence from bankruptcy. The deal is contingent on Carter Hawley’s emergence from bankruptcy by May 15, 1993. Carter Hawley’s annual interest payment to Prudential is $36.7 million.

The agreement also permits Prudential to convert $55 million in interest not paid since Carter Hawley’s bankruptcy filing into a promissory note at 9% interest. Repayment of principal on the note will also be deferred for five years.

The payment deferrals give the retailer “greater financial flexibility,” Dombrowski said.

A Prudential spokeswoman said the insurer was pleased with the agreement because it assured repayment of the entire loan, which is secured by 26 of Carter Hawley’s 89 stores. Besides Broadway, Carter Hawley operates the Emporium and Weinstocks chains.