Argentina could issue $30bn in debt this year, as other issuers seek to mimic the government's success in returning to international capital markets with a blockbuster bond sale last month. First out of the gates will be Argentina’s provincial governments, expected to issue at least $4bn this year, the Financial Times reported. They hope to take advantage of rekindled investor interest in a country isolated from bond markets by a protracted creditor dispute, which was triggered by a 2001 default on almost $100bn of debt. “Argentine debt represents an extraordinary opportunity.
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After summoning 100 representatives of Argentina’s business elite to the presidential residence this week, Mauricio Macri praised the few that had recently announced investments. The rest, he implied, were not doing their bit for the country, the Financial Times reported. The centre-right leader has implemented a barrage of economic reforms since taking office in December, including fixing a decade-long creditor dispute that enabled Argentina’s blockbuster return to international capital markets with a $16.5bn debt issue.
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Brazilian construction company Grupo OAS said its creditors would take over its 24.5 percent stake in infrastructure company Invepar as part of a restructuring plan, Reuters reported. OAS's shares of Invepar will be transferred to SPE Credores by the end of the day on May 31, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Grupo OAS filed for bankruptcy protection in a São Paulo court last year to restructure 8 billion reais ($2.3 billion) in debt owed by nine units.
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Brazil's rig leaser Sete Brasil Participações SA has decided to file for bankruptcy protection, the company said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. According to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, state-controlled pension fund Petros reversed its earlier position against the bankruptcy filing at a shareholder's meeting on Wednesday. The decision allows Sete Brasil to garner the 85 percent threshold for approval to file for creditor protection, said the source, who requested anonymity because the matter is private.
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Rio de Janeiro said it’s running out of money to pay for basic services months before the Olympic Games while other Brazilian states warned of similar financial crises if the federal government doesn’t provide debt relief, Bloomberg News reported. Six state governors and a representative for Rio de Janeiro said on Tuesday their fiscal woes are forcing them to make cutbacks that could lead to a breakdown of social services. Rio has been delaying payment of salaries to public servants since the beginning of the year.
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Argentina returned to the international bond markets for the first time in 15 years on Monday as it winds down a long-running battle with investors following its 2001 default, the Irish Times reported. Argentina announced a $10 billion-$15 billion bond, whose proceeds will help pay off the holders of its defaulted bonds who had rejected the payment terms of the country’s debt restructuring. New President Mauricio Macri wasted little time after taking office in December in agreeing terms with most of the holdouts, led by US hedge funds Elliott Management and Aurelius Capital.
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A political crisis and a two-year corruption scandal have brought Latin America’s largest economy to its knees. Now the country is looking to the lower house to end the political stalemate. There legislators prepare to vote on Sunday whether to move ahead with an impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff that could end with Vice President Michel Temer taking the reins, Bloomberg News reported. The government is appealing in the Supreme Court to halt the vote.
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For the past two months, Brazilian financial markets have staged wild rallies over any sign that left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff might be ousted from office, even as the nation’s economy spiraled further into the depths of its worst crisis in generations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, with a crucial impeachment vote looming on Sunday, investors may soon get their wish for new leadership. If two-thirds of lawmakers in Brazil’s lower house vote to try Ms. Rousseff on charges of doctoring the government’s fiscal numbers, she will have to step aside, at least temporarily.
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A US appeals court has cleared the way for Argentina to raise as much as $15bn to pay holdout creditors, enabling the Latin American sovereign to re-enter international capital markets after more than a decade on the sidelines, the Financial Times reported. The decision from the US District Court of Appeals in Manhattan affirmed a judge’s ruling to lift an injunction that barred Argentina from paying certain creditors, which subsequently pushed it into default in 2014.
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An economic, social and political crisis facing Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s unpopular president, is being aggravated by a rise in violence which is prompting fears that this oil-rich country risks becoming a failed state. Critics say that the Venezuelan government is increasingly unable to provide citizens with water, electricity, health or a functioning economy which can supply basic food staples or indispensable medicines, let alone personal safety. All this is creating a broad unease that Mr Maduro is unable to maintain order.
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