On June 24, 2013, Argentina filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on October 26, 2012 (see NML Capital, Ltd. v. Republic of Argentina, 699 F.3d 246 (2d Cir. 2012)) upholding a lower-court order enjoining Argentina from making payments on restructured defaulted debt without making comparable payments to holdout bondholders. On July 26, 2013, the French government filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief supporting Argentina’s petition. 

For the benefit of our clients and friends investing in European distressed opportunities, our European Network is sharing some current developments.

Recent Developments

NML Capital Ltd. (NML), a hedge fund affiliated with Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. (Elliott), won two favorable rulings from the Supreme Court of the United States (the Court) on Monday, June 16, related to its, now, decade long litigation with the Republic of Argentina over the country’s 2001 default on $100 billion of its debt. The Argentinian bonds were restructured in 2005 and again in 2010, and most bondholders swapped their defaulted bonds out for new, less favorable securities.

Gupta’s $13.9 Million SEC Insider Trading Penalty Affirmed

In Ambiente Ufficio S.p.A. and others v Argentine Republic, an ICSID tribunal held that it had general jurisdiction over a multi-party claim commenced by 90 distinct Italian nationals against Argentina in respect of harm said to result from Argentina’s default and later partial restructuring of its sovereign debt. It might at first blush appear that the tribunal’s willingness to admit a 90-party claim is an affirmation of the favourable approach to so-called “mass claims” taken by its “sister tribunal” in Abaclat (and others) v The Argentine Republic.

Recent Developments

In what the Financial Times has called “the sovereign debt restructuring case of the century,” Argentina has timely submitted its proposal as requested by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with which it is willing to make payments on approximately $1.3 billion of unpaid debt obligations that stem from the country’s $95 billion debt default of December 2001.

This is the twenty-ninth in our series of General Counsel Updates which aim to summarise major developments in key areas.

The BLG Monthly Update is a digest of recent developments in the law which Neil Guthrie, our National Director of Research, thinks you will find interesting or relevant – or both.

Recent Developments