UPDATE 4-Teck Cominco defers debt payments, shares leap

* Defers $4.4 billion in 2009 debt payments

* Stock leaps 30 percent to C$11.86

* EPS ex-items C$0.47 vs consensus C$0.43 (Add CEO and analyst comments. In U.S. dollars unless noted)

By Cameron French

TORONTO, April 21 (Reuters) - Canadian miner Teck Cominco (TCKb.TO) said on Tuesday its lenders have agreed to defer $4.4 billion in debt payments due in 2009, giving it breathing room in its attempt to pay down debt from its purchase of Fording Canadian Coal Trust, and driving its shares up by 30 percent.

The reworked financing plan, announced after Teck released first-quarter earnings, will give it some time to continue selling assets to help pay down $1.9 billion in debt still due this year, and to try to convert the bridge loan to longer-term debt, the company said.

Before the deferment, Teck had been on the hook for $6.3 billion in debt payments this year.

"It substantially diminishes (Teck's) risk profile," BMO Capital Markets analyst Tony Robson said of the agreement.

Teck borrowed $9.8 billion in total last year to pay for Fording so that it could take control of the Elk Valley Coal Partnership, one of the world's top producers of coal used in the steelmaking process.

The debt included a $5.8 billion bridge loan due on Oct. 30 and $4 billion in term debt that was due in installments beginning this month.

Teck could still reduce the amount due this year to $1.7 billion if remaining negotiations with lenders in the syndicate of 25 banks bear fruit, officials said on a conference call.

Under the new agreement, Teck will extend the maturity date of $3.5 billion of the bridge loan by two years, and will reschedule about $3.3 billion of amortization payments under the term loan, with the bulk of it due in 2012.

"We believe the $1.86 billion that is due of the rest of the year will be quite manageable," Teck Chief Executive Don Lindsay said. He said the company did not plan to issue any equity to pay down the remainder of the debt.

"LIGHT ON THE HORIZON"

By mid-afternoon, the company's shares were up 30.4 percent at C$11.88, on the Toronto Stock Exchange, after earlier touching their highest level since early November.

"This event clearly relieves some pressure in terms of their liquidity, and you see some light on the horizon with respect to how they may eventually come out of this," said Brian Hicks of Teck shareholder U.S. Global Investors.