Moody's lowered on Thursday Argentina's foreign-currency bond ceiling to b3 from b2 in line with bonds in local currency on growing concerns of market access for the private sector and local governments.
A hedge fund owner of defaulted Argentine debt can try to seize government assets held in Britain as it seeks to recover the full face value of the bonds, Britain's Supreme Court said in a ruling on Wednesday.
Argentina suffered a setback over its US$100 billion debt default in 2002 when New York's highest court said the country should keep paying interest on some bonds even after they mature or investors demand their principal back early.
Argentina’s attempts to return to global credit markets nine years after its 2001/02 default received this week mixed results. New York Federal Judge Thomas Griesa has issued a ruling urging Argentina to pay 54.33 million Euros (US$75.1 million) to the Capital Ventures International Fund.
Concern that Argentina’s government is reporting unreliable economic data is keeping Moody’s Investors Service from boosting the nation’s credit rating, said Patrick Esteruelas, an analyst with the company.
Argentina’s most populous province is preparing a return to international bond markets to benefit from the lowest borrowing costs in two years. Buenos Aires province hired Bank of America and Deutsche Bank AG to arrange investor meetings in Europe and the US as it plans to sell 500 million US dollars in debt.
Argentina is drawing on central bank profits to meet financing needs, putting off plans to sell its first international bond since 2001 as yields tumble. The central bank’s board on July 29 approved a transfer of 3 billion pesos (762 million USD) from the bank’s 23.5 billion pesos in 2009 profits to the government, following a 1.5 billion peso transfer in February, spokesman Fernando Meanos said.
Argentina won a court decision that keeps so-called vulture funds with demands against the country from gaining possession of bonds held in a Buenos Aires government trust account.
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.
In an extensive report, the Task Force Argentina (TFA)—which represents Italians holding some 4.5 billion US dollars in defaulted Argentine sovereign bonds—gave an ambiguous declaration over Argentina's debt-swap plan.