Argentina on Thursday offered to swap defaulted bonds at a third of their nominal value in a bid to regain access to financial markets after defaulting on them in 2001.
The proposed restructuring involves US$20 billion in debt and US$9 billion in interest accumulated since 2005 and should be completed within 40 days.
About a quarter of Argentina’s bondholders rejected a settlement in 2005 by then-president Nestor Kirchner, the husband of current President Cristina Kirchner, and waged a legal battle that led to the freezing of the country’s assets in foreign banks.
Argentine Economy Minister Amado Boudou proposed a “discount bond” to institutional creditors with a 66.3 percent discount. The offer includes a warrant linked to the country’s GDP and interest accumulated since 2005 will be paid with an 8.75 percent bond that matures in 2017.
Analysts estimate the discount is only worth 50 percent, so the offer could be considered a generous one as it recently traded at 30 percent.
Boudou said he expected a 60 percent participation by holdout bondholders who had rejected the previous restructuring proposal launched five years ago. They live mainly in the US, Italy, Luxembourg, France, Japan and Germany.
“The swap will be a success,” economist Orlando Ferreres said.
“This generous swap is seeking to end our isolation from the rest of the world,” opposition lawmaker and former central bank governor Alfonso Prat-Gay said. “What remains to be seen is if such generosity will be paid back with access to markets with reasonable rates.”
The offer will formally be made in 10 days and will last for no more than 30 days, Boudou said.
Argentina has a debt in the range of US$15 billion due this year, out of a total of US$147 billion in debt.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique