Buenos Aires Province gets 98% backing to restructure debt
Buenos Aires Province won enough creditor support to restructure 98% of its $7.1 billion in overseas debt - putting Argentina’s largest and most populous province a step closer to ending a 16-month default.
The province, home to 3 out of 8 Argentines, will swap all of the bonds it had offered to exchange except for portions of dollar-denominated notes due 2021 and euro-denominated bonds due 2020 - which had been issued under rules that required a higher amount of creditor participation to pull all holders along.
The deal will allow the province to save $4.6 billion over the next six years.
The exchange marks a success for Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof, 49 - known for butting heads with vulture funds as Argentina’s economy minister in 2013-15 - and his strategy of structuring the deal in a way designed to dissuade creditors from holding out.
It also brings Argentina’s most recent round of debt restructurings nearer a close, after a sharp economic contraction exacerbated by the pandemic prompted nearly every province to restructure obligations over the past 12 months.
President Alberto Fernandez's administration likewise swapped $65 billion in securities a year ago - part of some $100 billion in added foreign debt inherited from right-wing predecessor Mauricio Macri.
At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-30/buenos-aires-province-to-restructure-98-of-bonds-in-debt-deal
Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof announces today's agreement with bondholders, with Provincial Economy Minister Pablo López.
The swap allows the province to emerge from a 16-month default, and to save $4.6 billion in scarce foreign currency over the next six years.
The province's foreign currency-denominated debt had ballooned by 68%, to $9.1 billion, under his predecessor María Vidal - part of a nationwide policy under Vidal's political boss, former President Mauricio Macri.
