SPARE a thought for Commander Communications boss Adrian Coote...

SPARE a thought for Commander Communications boss Adrian Coote as he attempts to appease angry shareholders, impatient bankers, skittish suppliers and a group of potential buyers for his ailing telecommunications and data business.

For a start, Bizcon hears that suppliers like Express Data and Ingram Micro have been putting the squeeze on.

Apparently both outfits have slashed the credit they are prepared to extend to Commander, with Ingram Micro reducing its largesse from $19 million to $15 million and now $11 million in the space of a month.

They can hardly be blamed for turning the screws, as rumours that Commander's creditors are considering putting the company into receivership jockey with equally compelling rumours it's about to be sold.

With Commander sitting on $385 million of bank debt while a flock of prospective buyers pick over its books, we hear Coote has managed to secure from his bankers a tightly bound $20 million in additional funding to keep the business afloat while he tries to close a sale.

Word is that the covenants securing this 11th-hour loan appear to anticipate that Commander's fate will be sealed relatively soon.

The loan requires $10 million to be repaid by February 28, with the remainder due by March 30.

Coote's bankers are signalling they expect the question marks hanging over Commander to be removed relatively soon.

The word circulating among twitchy suppliers is that those repayment dates are unlikely to be an issue because suppliers have been assured the company will be making an announcement about a buyout or similar deal within the week