Investment Trust Puts Off Refinancing : Bonds: Irvine Apartment Communities is unable to proceed because of O.C.’s bankruptcy filing.

Irvine Apartment Communities Inc. said Tuesday that it has shelved plans to refinance $327.3 million of its tax-exempt bonds until it can determine how Orange County’s bankruptcy filing will affect the area’s real estate industry.

Bonds for the refinancing normally would be issued by Orange County, but “you can’t do a refinancing when the issuer is in bankruptcy,” said Richard Moran, chief financial officer of Irvine Apartment Communities.

The real estate investment trust, based in Newport Beach, was in refinancing talks Dec. 6, the day Orange County filed for protection under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Although the company stands by its statement last week that it will not be affected in the long run by the county’s situation, Moran said, it put off the refinancing because now “is just not the right time to consider it.”

Moran said that about two-thirds of the bonds were issued by Orange County but are backed not by the county but by letters of credit from banks and some of the company’s apartment properties. That means the debt isn’t tied directly to the county’s finances, Moran said.

The company wants to refinance eventually, Moran said, to lengthen the maturity of the debt as a hedge against any further interest-rate rises. There is no rush, he said, because the bulk of the bonds do not mature until 1997.

In the days following the county’s bankruptcy filing, Irvine Apartment Communities’ stock was among those hit hardest by the news, sinking to a 52-week low of $14.73 a share.

On Thursday, the company set out to calm Wall Street’s fears about its ability to keep up the pace of its apartment development by releasing a statement saying that the bankruptcy would not have a significant effect on the company or its projects.

The stock regained ground through Monday but fell 38 cents Tuesday to close at $15.75 a share in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Irvine Apartment Communities was spun off earlier this year from the Irvine Co., the county’s largest real estate company. It has the exclusive right to develop apartment communities for 15 years on the Irvine Ranch, which encompasses more than a sixth of Orange County.

The company now owns 43 apartment complexes containing a total of 11,300 units on the ranch.