MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina’s debt-swap acceptance expected to reach 70%

Economy minister Amado Boudou will have to wait for Maradona

The latest available information on the Argentine debt-swap reported a higher acceptance rate than was anticipated by market analysts reaching 68.3%, which is above the self imposed 60% floor by Argentine authorities. The news was released by Buenos Aires financial daily Ambito Financiero.

This means in practical terms that the restructuring is set to reach 12.5 billion of the outstanding 18 billion US dollars in pending defaulted bonds. Most of the bondholders decided to accept the offer at the last moment. The Argentine bonds soared nearly 10% in the last 15 days, mirroring the decreasing concern on the European crisis.

Officials at the Ministry of Economy were considering extending the swap-offer deadline, which was set to close Tuesday, but since this could be interpreted as 'a sign of failure' within the framework of the transaction, the idea was rejected.

Nonetheless, the Argentine government is willing to extend the deadline for those small bondholders who have so far failed to accept the offer and might be excluded in the second phase of the debt-swap. This deadline would just represent a couple of days.

Economy Minister Amado Boudou was expected to hold a press conference to report the tentative acceptance rate, which could reach 70% if investors enter the debt-swap at a fast pace. The high participation rate was triggered by Italian and Japanese bondholders, according to Ambito Financiero.

Boudou at the press conference is expected to underline that with the first bonds’ swap from 2005, Argentina has now managed to restructure 90% of its 2001 sovereign defaulted debt.

However the conference if it is to have an impact will depend, as currently in most of the globe, on events in the World Cup hosted by South Africa.