Argentina will seek to move its overseas bonds into local jurisdiction to skirt a U.S. court ruling forcing it to pay holders of defaulted debt in full, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The swap will ensure holders of restructured bonds keep getting paid while allowing Argentina to avoid complying with the U.S. ruling, Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said yesterday. Cabinet officials will meet with lawmakers today to discuss how to shift investors into local-law bonds, he said. Officials overseeing South America’s second-largest economy say that the nation doesn’t have sufficient reserves to pay what they estimate could be $15 billion of claims from holders of defaulted bonds that didn’t participate in two debt exchanges following the country’s 2001 default. After the U.S. Supreme Court said on June 16 that it wouldn’t consider the case, Argentina is bound by a U.S. District Court ruling that it can’t make interest payments to holders of restructured international bonds without paying the defaulted notes as well.
For more on the Argentinian debt crisis, the Supreme Court's ruling and what happens next, make sure to attend Friday's Cross-Border Symposium on Friday in New York. The program will feature a keynote by James Millstein, who will discuss Argentina's debt situation. Millstein, chairman and CEO of Millstein & Co., represented the Republic of Argentina in connection with the exchange offer for its international bond indebtedness.
http://www.abiworld.org/CB14/