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Argentina to launch debt swap
Thursday, April 01, 2010
ARGENTINA will launch a debt swap April 14 for some US$20 billion in bonds considered in default since 2001, Economy Minister Amado Boudou said Wednesday.
Boudou told Radio Mitre the operation "will be posted on the website of the ministry and will be available for everyone" starting April 14.
The move is part of an effort by President Cristina Kirchner to get the nation out from its 2001 default and restore its access to capital markets to avoid prohibitively high interest rates.
The effort began in 2005 under former president Nestor Kirchner who got 76 per cent of bondholders to agree to a swap on US$90 billion worth of bonds.
Analysts expect around 75 to 80 per cent of bondholders to accept the new offer.
The new bonds would give holders an estimated US$52 to US$56 for every US$100 in the
existing bonds.
The announcement came a day after an appeals court backed Kirchner's plan to use US$4.38 billion from central bank reserves to repay the country's bondholders in part.
The ruling overturned a lower court decision that had blocked the government from tapping central bank reserves amid a huge political row.
The Argentine leader has been trying to use the central bank reserves to pay off a hefty chunk of the debt due this year to Argentina's international lenders and holders of bonds on which the country defaulted in 2001.
An earlier proposal was opposed by then-central bank chief Martin Redrado, who Kirchner fired, sparking a major political and legal battle
Thursday, April 01, 2010
ARGENTINA will launch a debt swap April 14 for some US$20 billion in bonds considered in default since 2001, Economy Minister Amado Boudou said Wednesday.
Boudou told Radio Mitre the operation "will be posted on the website of the ministry and will be available for everyone" starting April 14.
The move is part of an effort by President Cristina Kirchner to get the nation out from its 2001 default and restore its access to capital markets to avoid prohibitively high interest rates.
The effort began in 2005 under former president Nestor Kirchner who got 76 per cent of bondholders to agree to a swap on US$90 billion worth of bonds.
Analysts expect around 75 to 80 per cent of bondholders to accept the new offer.
The new bonds would give holders an estimated US$52 to US$56 for every US$100 in the
existing bonds.
The announcement came a day after an appeals court backed Kirchner's plan to use US$4.38 billion from central bank reserves to repay the country's bondholders in part.
The ruling overturned a lower court decision that had blocked the government from tapping central bank reserves amid a huge political row.
The Argentine leader has been trying to use the central bank reserves to pay off a hefty chunk of the debt due this year to Argentina's international lenders and holders of bonds on which the country defaulted in 2001.
An earlier proposal was opposed by then-central bank chief Martin Redrado, who Kirchner fired, sparking a major political and legal battle