Aggiornamento Argentina

[gastronomo]

ARGENTINA: BOND; LAVAGNA, REALISTI CON CHI NON HA ADERITO
(ANSA) - BUENOS AIRES, 11 APR - L'Argentina adotterà un
atteggiamento "realista" con coloro che non hanno aderito alla
proposta di ristrutturazione del debito estero privato in
default per 81,8 milioni di dollari, conclusasi in febbraio con
una adesione del 76,16%.
Il quotidiano 'La nacion' dedica oggi alla questione il
principale titolo di prima pagina sostenendo che 'ammettono che
negozieranno con coloro che non hanno accettato il concambio', e
ribadendo che il ministro dell'Economia Roberto Lavagna vuole
ispirarsi alla strategia adottata da altri paesi usciti da un
default, come Russia ed Ecuador.
Al termine di una visita in Giappone dove ha partecipato alla
Assemblea annuale della Banca interamericana di sviluppo (Idb),
e prima di recarsi in Germania dove il presidente Nestor
Kirchner comincia una visita ufficiale, Lavagna ha detto oggi a
Radio America che "la priorità assoluta del governo resta, in
uno scenario post default, seguire l'86% del nostro debito che
é in ordine, e che comprende tutti quelli che, nel paese e
fuori, hanno accettato il concambio".
Secondo calcoli del Ministero dell'economia, infatti, dopo il
recente concambio Buenos Aires ha in regola l'86% del suo debito
pubblico e privato.
"Il resto - ha concluso Lavagna - rappresenta il 14% e lo
consideriamo come 'passivo eventuale'" e "vedremo che
atteggiamento prendere, perché alcuni sceglieranno la via
giudiziaria e altri il negoziato, ed il paese risponderà, come
stiamo già facendo in altri casi".(ANSA).

 

[gastronomo]

Qui l'interpretazione va nella direzione opposta

Argentina has no plan for swap holdouts - Lavagna
Mon Apr 11, 2005 11:35 AM ET
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 11 (Reuters) - Argentina will not negotiate with the 24 percent of its private creditors who rejected its mammoth debt swap, despite pressure by the IMF to deal with these investors, Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna said on Monday.
Lavagna reiterated the tough stance in an interview to a local radio after the International Monetary Fund on Friday said Argentina should define a "realistic strategy" to deal with dissenting investors, or holdouts, in any future accord with the lender.

He said the government may "in due course" have to confront the problem of the $20 billion worth of bonds that did not enter the swap and in default since 2002, which he called "eventual liabilities."

He stressed, however, that the debt swap prospectus and a recently passed law prohibit a reopening of the swap or settlements with individual investors.

"We'll have to see what to do with them," Lavagna told Radio America, referring to the holdouts.

He rejected local newspaper reports that said he suggested reopening the debt exchange during a news conference in Okinawa, where he is attending the annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank.

"Nobody should try to force negotiations or reopenings because there aren't going to be any," he said.

"At the moment there is absolutely nothing, not today, not tomorrow, not one month from now. Those who did not participate are eventual liabilities, some will choose the legal path, others will try for some type of negotiation. All that remains in the future and there is no commitment on our part," he said.

Argentina, which defaulted on $81.8 billion in 2002, asked creditors to accept a write off of up to 70 percent in a debt exchange offer that ended last Feb 25. About 76 percent of bondholders signed up for the deal, allowing the government to replace $62.3 billion in bad debt with $35.3 billion in new bonds at lower interest rates and longer maturities.

Lavagna's remarks clashed with those of IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson, who on Friday said a strategy to deal with non-participating creditors was important to the Fund in the context of a future program with Argentina.

"This change in tone (by the IMF) was a negative surprise considering that the Fund had previously been leaning toward allowing Argentina to decide how to handle the holdouts issue," said HSBC in its daily emerging markets note.

RELATIONS WITH IMF

Argentina's relations with the IMF have been tense since its 2002 financial collapse, which President Nestor Kirchner partly blames on bad lending policies in the 1990s. Argentina suspended its talks with the Fund in August 2004 to focus on its debt swap. The IMF refrained from comment throughout the contentious restructuring process, a stance analysts thought could help smooth the path to a renewal of aid talks in 2005.

"It is natural to believe that with this newly imposed conditionality, it will be more difficult to iron out a new program," it said.

Lavagna said if the IMF were to make those demands, it would be unfair to Argentina because those demands were not made on other countries who restructured their debt.

The IMF, which has not requested a reopening of the swap, is currently doing its annual review of the Argentine economy which will form the basis of talks on any future IMF program.

Argentina wants an agreement with the IMF to refinance debt payments required this year but President Nestor Kirchner wants to avoid committing to major economic reforms of the kind the lender habitually makes.

Argentina owes $13 billion to the IMF, of which $4 billion is due in the remainder of 2005.

 

[gastronomo]

ARGENTINA: BOND, G7 CHIEDERA' RIMBORSO DI TUTTI I CREDITORI
(ANSA) - ROMA, 12 apr - I ministri delle finanze dei 7
maggiori paesi industrializzati potrebbero chiedere
all'Argentina di rimborsare anche gli obbligazionisti che non
hanno aderito al piano di ristrutturazione del debito argentino
in default. Lo scrive l'agenzia di stampa Dow Jones, secondo cui
il tema della ristrutturazione del debito argentino sarà al
centro dei colloqui del G-7 fra venerdì sera e sabato.
Una bozza del comunicato che i ministri emetteranno dopo il
loro incontro di sabato 17 aprile a Washington - scrive
l'agenzia citando una fonte anonima - ricorda all'Argentina che
c'é un considerevole numero di creditori che non ha aderito
allo swap proposto da Buenos Aires.
L'Argentina, lo scorso febbraio, ha ottenuto il via libera
del 76% degli obbligazionisti dei tango-bond allo swap, che
prevede nel complesso il taglio del 75% circa del valore
nominale dei bond, emessi per ben 104 miliardi di dollari.
(ANSA).

 

[gastronomo]

(ANSA) - BUENOS AIRES, 12 APR - Il governo argentino ha
ribadito oggi che il concambio del debito privato estero,
chiusosi il 25 febbraio scorso, "non si riapre" e che una
soluzione al problema degli holdouts (il 24% di creditori che
non hanno aderito) "é a lungo termine". Lo scrive oggi
l'agenzia di stampa statale Telam.
Una fonte ufficiale al seguito del presidente della
repubblica Nestor Kirchner, che è oggi in visita in Germania,
ha detto all'agenzia che "il Fondo monetario internazionale non
sta agendo in buona fede perché originariamente sosteneva che
il concambio doveva raggiungere il maggior numero di creditori
possibili ed ora chiede il 100% di accettazione". Secondo
alcune anticipazioni i ministri finanziari del G-7 si
appresterebbero a chiedere all'Argentina di estendere il
rimborso anche agli obbligazionisti che non hanno aderito al
concambio.
In base ai dati ufficiali, gli aderenti all'offerta di Buenos
Aires sono stati il 76,16%, mentre circa la metà di coloro che
hanno respinto la proposta si trovano in Italia.
In merito poi alla possibile richiesta da parte dei ministri
delle finanze del G-7 di rimborsare anche gli obbligazionisti
che non hanno aderito al piano, la fonte ha ribadito che "il
concambio non si riapre" e che la soluzione del tema sarà "a
lungo termine, qualcosa di cui si occuperanno future gestioni".
(ANSA).

 

[gastronomo]

Argentina says solution for swap holdouts long-term
Tue Apr 12, 2005 02:34 PM ET
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 12 (Reuters) - Argentina will not reopen an offer to swap bad debt for holders of $20 billion in bonds who earlier rejected the plan, a government official said on Tuesday, saying future administrations would have to find a long-term solution for the holdouts.
Argentina is under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to define a strategy for dealing with the 24 percent of bondholders who rejected its offer earlier this year to swap bad debt for new bonds at about 30 cents to the dollar.

The issue of dissenting bondholders, or holdouts, is also expected to be addressed by G7 nations meeting in Washington this weekend. Meanwhile, holdouts are suing Argentina in U.S. courts for a better settlement.

"The swap is not going to open," an Argentine government official on a state visit to Germany told the state news agency Telam. A solution for holdout investors "is long term, something that future administrations will concern themselves with," he added.

A spokesman at the president's office in Buenos Aires confirmed the remarks, without disclosing the source. President Nestor Kirchner is in Germany this week, accompanied by several cabinet ministers.

Kirchner's mandate ends on Dec. 10, 2007.

Three years after defaulting on $81.8 billion in debt, Argentina persuaded 76 percent of private creditors to accept its offer to swap their bad debt for new securities at the biggest write-off for any sovereign restructuring in modern history.

Speculation on Wall Street is rife that Argentina could reopen the swap for holders of $20 billion in bonds who rejected the original offer.

The completion of the debt swap, originally scheduled for April 1, is on hold after a U.S. federal judge froze $7 billion in bonds that have been tendered in the exchange at the request of holdout investors.

A U.S. appeals court will not likely rule until late April on whether or not to lift the freeze and thereby clear the way for the swap to be carried out.

Investors' expectations of a reopening of the swap rose after Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna said holdouts would be dealt with "in due course" in a speech during the Inter-American Development Bank meeting in Japan. He later clarified he meant that debt could become a potential liability in the future as a result of lawsuits but that the government had no immediate plans to settle with those creditors.

The Argentine official said the IMF "is not acting in good faith" after saying last Friday that a solution for holdout investors was an important part of any future loan agreement with Argentina.

"Originally, it urged us to obtain the highest possible threshold of acceptance and now is demanding 100 percent acceptance" in the debt exchange, the official said.

Argentina, the third-biggest borrower from the IMF, needs to renew an agreement with the lender after suspending its program last year.

The "least bad" scenario for Argentina would be a two-year accord to refinance the debt principle and pay off interest, the official said.

 

[gastronomo]

Argentina to contest New York debtholder appeal
Tue Apr 12, 2005 03:04 PM ET
By Greg Brosnan
NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) - Attorneys defending Argentina in New York against angry creditors, who are owed money from a 2002 default, will on Wednesday file a reply to a court appeal that has led the country to postpone its massive debt swap.

Argentina was due on April 1 to issue $35.3 billion in bonds in exchange for $62.3 billion in old defaulted bonds in a swap aimed at turning the page on its 2002 sovereign default.

But it delayed issuing new bonds until the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rules on a request by holdouts to freeze $7 billion of old bonds tendered in the exchange.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa in New York on March 21 froze $7 billion in defaulted bonds at the request of disgruntled creditors EM Ltd and NML Capital.

A week later he temporarily lifted the freeze but within minutes ruled to keep the freeze in place pending a final ruling by the appeals court.

Since NML Capital and EM Ltd filed to the appeals court, some 18 other creditors have done the same, sources in the appeals court said on Tuesday.

Lawyers for Argentina said on Tuesday they would file their reply to the appeals on Wednesday. Sources in the appeals court said a hearing was set for April 27.

The court sources said an appeals court panel had asked creditors who had filed appeals for information on cases that were related, suggesting court interest in seeing a consolidation of cases which could facilitate a single ruling.

PRESSURE FROM THE G7

At the peak of a serious economic crisis in 2002, Argentina defaulted on debt worth $81.8 billion, which now totals $102.6 billion with past due interest.

After three years of delays, 76 percent of creditors agreed to swap their old Argentine bonds for new debt, a deal which results in an estimated 70 percent loss on their holdings.

How to treat the holdout creditors could be a hot topic when finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial nations hold talks in Washington on Friday and Saturday ahead of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings.

Dow Jones on Tuesday cited an unnamed G7 official as saying a draft of a G7 statement due for release at the meeting would ask Argentina "not to forget that there's still a considerable number of investors who haven't signed up for the swap offer."

Italy and Japan have harshly criticized Argentina over the way it has conducted its swap, but the United States, crucial because of its influence over IMF lending decisions, has so far maintained that the issue should be resolved between Argentina and its creditors.

However, Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor said at the Inter-American Development Bank's (IADB) annual meeting on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa that the United States would maintain that position, and that there were no major differences of opinion among members of the G7 on the subject.

A bondholder source involved in the restructuring said the G7 had likely planned to commend Argentina on its restructuring in a statement but had been forced to temper its optimism because the process was now on hold in the New York courts.

The source said many holdouts suing Argentina in New York aimed for bigger prizes and had never planned to enter the restructuring, and that a G7 attempt to force Argentina to improve a deal to creditors would likely be counterproductive to drawing in holdouts.

"The whole point is to get a large amount of the debt to come in," said the source. "The best way to go about it is certainly not to tell the market "we are going to pressure (Argentina) continuously and never give them any funds until they get to (an acceptance level of) 90 percent.'"

An Argentine official said on Tuesday any solution for holdouts would be dealt with in the long term by future administrations.

The comment was aimed at clearing up confusion over remarks made in Okinawa by Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, which some took to mean the swap could be re-opened.

 

[gastronomo]

ARGENTINA: FMI, SPETTA A BAIRES TRATTARE CON OBBLIGAZIONISTI
(ANSA) - ROMA, 12 apr - "Spetta al governo argentino
definire come trattare con gli obbligazionisti che non hanno
accettato la precedente offerta: senza questa azione del Governo
di Buenos Aires il Fondo non è disposto a riaprire il programma
e quindi il finanziamento di aggiustamento all'Argentina". Lo
ha detto Pier Carlo Padoan, direttore esecutivo per l'Italia del
Fmi nel corso della puntata di oggi di "Miaeconomia",
approfondimento economico di Sky Tg24.
Padoan ha replicato così alle dichiarazioni di Nestor
Kirchner, presidente della repubblica argentina secondo cui il
Fondo monetario internazionale non sta agendo in buona fede
perché originariamente sosteneva che il concambio doveva
raggiungere il maggior numero di creditori possibile ed ora
chiede invece il 100% di accettazione. "Innanzitutto il Fondo
Monetario non ha mai fissato un limite - controbatte Padoan - in
secondo luogo noto che il portavoce del governo argentino usa il
termine mala fede. Questo non è un caso perché è il FMI che
sta chiedendo agli argentini di comportarsi in buona fede. Il
Fondo non può emettere prestiti ad un paese che ha dei debiti
scoperti con una controparte a meno che questo paese debitore
non agisca in buona fede nei confronti dei suoi creditori. Da
quando è fallita ha aggiunto Padoan - l'Argentina non ha mai
agito in buona fede nei confronti di tutti i creditori e quindi
nemmeno dei creditori italiani. L'Argentina non ha mai avviato
nessun vero negoziato e questo, a nostro avviso, è una
condizione che, se non viene cambiata, non permette di
ristabilire i rapporti con il Governo argentino".
(ANSA).

 

[gipa69]

Mercosur
Monday, 11 April


Argentina admits reopening debt restructuring



Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna admitted for the first time that those sovereign bond holders left out of the recent exchange will be considered but on Argentina’s “time and terms”.


Minster R. Lavagna
Mr. Lavagna made the announcement during his address Monday to the 46th Inter-American Development Bank annual General Assembly in Okinawa, Japan.
Although the defaulted sovereign bonds exchange operation was considered a “success” by Argentine authorities because 76% of creditors adhered, an estimated 20 billion out of a total 82 billion US dollars rejected the offer which basically meant exchanging one US dollar face value for 33 US cents.

However Mr. Lavagna pointed out that whatever is done in the future will be according to “rules established in the prospect” of the exchange operation. This means conditions can’t be improved and if they are, they must be extensive to bond holders who accepted the original conditions.
Mr. Lavagna’s address followed an IMF call on “hold outs” (who didn’t take the offer) an estimated 24%, to adopt a “realistic strategy”.

Earlier in the day Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki criticized the Argentine bond exchange appealing to words such as “deplorable” and “bad faith”.
“I consider really deplorable that Argentina failed in negotiating in good faith with creditors and proceeded to act unilaterally without giving creditors another option”, stressed Mr. Tanigake in not too polite words.

However Mr. Lavagna defended the Argentine debt restructuring process arguing that the country didn’t have many options and was forced into a plan given the lack of fresh funds from the IMF and the severity of the economic and social crisis in Argentina.

“Many criticisms and misunderstandings come from the lack of comprehension of these differences which have been a constant source of friction and frustration”, insisted Mr. Lavagna who also insinuated that part of the blame rests on multilateral organizations that strongly recommend implementing restructuring programs to satisfy creditors instead of having as main priority ensuring sustainable growth.
“This is the logic that keeps an economy on artificial respiration…as was the case with Argentina, which was rapidly loosing steam while experiencing a worsening of social exclusion and increasing debt”.
“This inevitably leads to a crisis”, highlighted Mr. Lavagna.

The controversy with Japan is over 2,6 billion US dollars defaulted bonds, which according to Mr. Lavagna ended in the hands of small investors sold by “unscrupulous” Japanese bankers who didn’t warn clients (mostly pensioners) about their exposure and vulnerability, when “Argentine debt issue prospects clearly indicate that these bonds are not for small investors”.

A similar situation in Italy ended with hefty fines on banks involved in Argentine bond operations.

 

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Argentine Stocks Drop on Monetary Fund Concern: Latin Stocks
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina's Merval had the second- biggest decline of the world's primary stock indexes on concern the country may fail to renew a $13.3 billion loan accord with the International Monetary Fund.

The Merval index fell 35.83, or 2.5 percent, to 1372.59, the second-biggest drop among 60 indexes tracked by Bloomberg, behind Pakistan's main index. Grupo Financiero Galicia SA, the country's biggest non-government bank, led the drop.

Argentina in February agreed with three quarters of bondholders to exchange $62.3 billion in defaulted debt, while investors holding $20 billion rejected the offer. Carrying out the exchange is a condition for the loan accord with the IMF, which was put on hold last year, and the country risks running out of money by July if it fails to win a new loan program, said economist Martin Apaz, at Deloitte & Touche LLP in Buenos Aires.

``The IMF has signaled its position, which is that in order to reach an accord Argentina will need to reach an agreement accord with the holdouts to get rid of that debt,'' said Mariano Tavelli, analyst at Tavelli & Cia in Buenos Aires.

Apaz said Argentina would either have to sell bonds or tap reserves to finance spending plans if the country doesn't reach an accord with the IMF.

IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson on April 8 said the country should ``develop a realistic strategy'' to resolve the demands of creditors who didn't agree to the swap. Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna yesterday rejected calls for the country to reopen its debt offer, saying it ``isn't going to happen.''

Appeal

The swap, originally scheduled for April 1, is on hold until a U.S. appeals court decides whether creditors who spurned the offer can freeze $7 billion of defaulted debt held by the exchange agent in New York.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations may call on Argentina to reach an accord with bondholders who rejected the offer, Dow Jones reported today, citing a G-7 official that the agency didn't name.

 

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Martes 12 de abril, 5:39 PM
Argentina prepara respuesta a apelación acreedores en Nueva York ADVERTISEMENT





Por Greg Brosnan

NUEVA YORK (Reuters) - Los abogados que defienden a Argentina de los acreedores que exigen su dinero desde que el país cayó en incumplimiento de pagos en el 2002 presentarán el miércoles su respuesta a una apelación que obligó al gobierno a posponer el canje de su deuda.

Argentina tenía previsto entregar el 1 de abril 35.200 millones de dólares a los tenedores de bonos por 62.300 millones de dólares en cesación de pagos que aceptaron la oferta de reestructuración del país.

Sin embargo, el país decidió postergar la entrega de los títulos hasta que un tribunal de apelaciones de Nueva York falle sobre un reclamo de acreedores que no ingresaron en el canje.

Los acreedores inconformes lograron un congelamiento de 7.000 millones de dólares en bonos incumplidos que los tenedores que aceptaron la oferta le habían entregado al Bank of New York, el banco de inversión que dirigió la operación, para ser canjeados.

El juez federal del distrito sur de Nueva York Thomas Griesa congeló los bonos el 21 de marzo a pedido de los fondos EM Ltd y NML Capital, que no aceptaron la oferta argentina, la cual implicaba una pérdida del 70 por ciento del capital. Los demandantes buscan recuperar el 100 por ciento de su dinero a través de los tribunales.

Una semana más tarde, Griesa aceptó los argumentos de Argentina y levantó el congelamiento, pero sólo minutos más tarde lo volvió a aplicar cuando los fondos de inversión informaron que apelarían la medida ante un tribunal superior.

Desde que NML Capital y EM Ltd presentaron su apelación, alrededor de 18 acreedores siguieron sus pasos, dijeron el martes fuentes de la corte de apelaciones.

Los abogados de Argentina dijeron el martes que la respuesta a la apelación se presentará el miércoles.

Fuentes de la corte de apelaciones dijeron que la audiencia final para que el tribunal tome una decisión esta prevista para el 27 de abril.

Las fuentes del tribunal dijeron que la corte de apelaciones dio a entender que busca un fallo unificador que se aplique a todas las demandas relacionadas con el caso.

PRESIONES DEL G7

En el momento más duro de su crisis económica en el 2002, Argentina dejó de pagar obligaciones por 81.800 millones de dólares, que con el tiempo se transformaron en 102.600 millones por la acumulación de intereses.

Luego de tres años, Argentina concretó el canje de deuda que logró una aceptación del 76 por ciento de los acreedores, aceptando una pérdida del 70 por ciento.

La forma en el que país trate el tema de los tenedores de bonos por unos 20.000 millones de dólares que no entraron al canje podría ser debatida en la reunión de los ministros de Finanzas del Grupo de los Siete (G7), los países más ricos del mundo, que se celebrará en Washington el viernes y el sábado como preámbulo al encuentro semestral del FMI y del Banco Mundial.

Dow Jones citó el martes a una fuente anónima del G7 la cual dijo que el borrador del próximo comunicado del grupo, que será emitido tras la reunión, pedirá a Argentina "que no olvide que aún hay un número considerable de inversores que no han aceptado la oferta de canje."

Italia y Japón han criticado duramente a Argentina por la forma en la que condujo la operación, pero Estados Unidos, que es crucial por su influencia sobre las decisiones del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), mantiene hasta ahora que el problema debe ser resuelto entre los acreedores y Argentina.

Sin embargo, el subsecretario del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos, John Taylor, dijo en la asamblea del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) en Japón que su país mantendría su posición, y que no había mayores diferencias de opinión sobre ese tema entre los miembros del G7.

Una fuente de un grupo de acreedores involucrada en la reestructuración dijo que el G7 tenía planeado felicitar a Argentina por la reestructuración en un comunicado, pero que debió reducir su optimismo luego de que todo el proceso quedara bloqueado en las cortes de Nueva York.

La fuente dijo que muchos acreedores que rechazaron la oferta y están peleando en los tribunales nunca pensaron en entrar a la operación porque siempre apuntaron a lograr grandes ganancias, y que los intentos del G7 de forzar a Argentina a mejorar la oferta podrían ser contraproducentes al objetivo de lograr que esos acreedores tomen la propuesta.

"El punto es lograr que entre (al canje) una gran cantidad de deuda," dijo la fuente.

"La mejor manera para hacerlo no es decirle al mercado: 'vamos a presionar (Argentina) sin cesar y nunca le daremos ningún financiamiento hasta que logren (un nivel de aceptación) del 90 por ciento."'

Pese a todas las especulaciones, un funcionario del gobierno argentino dijo el martes en Alemania que la situación de los acreedores que rechazaron la oferta será un problema a enfrentar por los futuros gobiernos, intentado eludir la presión por una solución rápida.