(Bloomberg) -- Ronald Perelman’s Vericast Corp. is facing pushback from lenders over debt terms tied to plans to sell its digital and print marketing division to R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., according to people with knowledge of the matter. 

Lenders are asking for more protections in exchange for waiving a covenant that would pave the way for the sale of one of the company’s most valuable assets, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The talks remain active after more than a month, and a deal may still be reached, they said.

At the same time, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is advising Vericast on an alternative possible capital raise of about $1 billion, the people said. Jefferies has approached direct lenders to gauge their interest in a potential deal that would pay down existing debt and circumvent the approval needed from creditors, the people said.

Messages left with Vericast, its private equity owner MacAndrews & Forbes, Jefferies and R.R. Donnelley were not returned. A representative for Chatham Asset Management — Vericast’s largest creditor and R.R. Donnelley’s owner — declined to comment.

Vericast last month asked lenders for permission to sell Valassis, Bloomberg previously reported. The sale of the unit for $1.35 billion would largely come in the form of debt forgiveness by Chatham. 

The company is looking to close the asset sale by mid-May, said one of the people. 

Last year, Vericast rejected an offer from R.R. Donnelley to buy the closely held marketing company for around $3 billion.

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