Argentina

Argentina’s province of Buenos Aires narrowly avoided defaulting on its debt on Tuesday, agreeing to make good on an overdue payment originally due in January and announcing it would begin restructuring its debt burden, the Financial Times reported. Axel Kicillof, the governor of Argentina’s most populous province, said his government would pay holders of a bond maturing in 2021 the $250m they were owed, and start the process of restructuring its remaining stock of foreign debt.

A month after Argentine President Alberto Fernandez took office, economists and investors still don’t know how he plans to dig his way out of a $311 billion debt hole and kick-start growth. They only know a when, Bloomberg News reported. His government last week laid out an ambitious timeline for debt talks that it aims to wrap up by the end of March. While light on detail and deserving of skepticism, it offers at least an inkling of a plan from a president and economic team that have so far eschewed any sort of big picture road-map.

The province of Buenos Aires has broken through an impasse with a group of its bondholders, inching closer to avoiding a messy default over an overdue payment and helping the national government press on with the restructuring of more than $100bn of debt it is struggling to repay, the Financial Times reported. Negotiations between the province and its bondholders broke down last week, but on Monday, the government sweetened the terms it would offer, just days before the already extended deadline was set to expire.

Almost two months into Alberto Fernández’s presidency, Argentina’s private creditors are increasingly worried about the slow progress in fixing the heavily indebted country’s most urgent problem: avoiding its ninth sovereign debt default, the Financial Times reported.This frustration has been reflected in rising bond yields and a widening of the gap between official and parallel exchange rates. With a provincial debt default possible in the coming days and debt payments to international creditors due this year, Mr Fernández is in on a tour to garner support.

Argentina's lower house of Congress approved a bill on Wednesday that would enable the government of President Alberto Fernandez to handle a massive debt restructuring of bonds issued in foreign currency that it needs to negotiate with creditors, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. With support from the opposition, the bill was approved with 224 votes in favour and two against. The bill moves to the Senate, where it is expected to pass next week. The Fernandez government, inaugurated on Dec.

The Chamber of Deputies voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a bill to restructure the Argentine government's $100 billion debt, which officials say is unpayable amid a deep recession that has reawakened old fears of financial crises, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. With the support of the main opposition parties, the government of President Alberto Fernández saw the measure pass 224-2 while leftist groups opposing the legislation protested outside congress. The bill now goes to the Senate for debate next week.

The Province of Buenos Aires improved the terms it’s offering bondholders if they agree to accept delayed payments, an about-face from the cash-strapped government after its first overture failed to attract sufficient support, Bloomberg News reported. In exchange for pushing back the deadline on a $250 million principal payment, investors would receive an extra $7.2 million in interest, according to the offer revealed Monday. Previously, officials were asking creditors to sign off on the three-month delay without any additional compensation.

Dennis Hranitzky, an attorney who helped hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer win a 15-year bond battle against Argentina, is gearing up for a potential rematch against the South American nation, Bloomberg News reported. The veteran restructuring lawyer, who joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan this week, said he is building up an Argentina bondholder group that now totals about 20 funds. The creditors are focused on notes that were part of the nation’s 2005 and 2010 debt exchanges.

Argentina’s top exporter of processed soy, Vicentin, is in talks over a potential takeover deal with firms including European grains giant Glencore to help resolve a debt crisis, according to two sources close to the negotiations, Reuters reported. The near 90-year-old firm, which defaulted on payments to suppliers late last year, has also told grains farmers it owes money to that it will make a debt restructuring offer in the days ahead, the sources said on Friday.

A big question facing Alberto Fernández, Argentina’s new president, is what to do with the country’s debt, the Financial Times reported. Gross government debt is equal to 93 per cent of GDP, its highest level since the 2004 restructuring, while the price of most Argentine sovereign bonds has fallen to less than 50 cents on the dollar. To some, these numbers suggest an over-indebted economy requiring an aggressive debt restructuring imposing significant haircuts on creditors to restore debt sustainability and economic growth. But is this the correct way to look at it? I think not.