FOCUS: Greece Next Week Seeks To Woo European Investors 
 
         By Costas Paris and Nick Skrekas    Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES     
ATHENS (Dow Jones)-Senior Greek officials will sweep through Europe's  financial centers next week to try and convince investors that they  shouldn't have to pay ruinous interest rates on their sovereign debt. 
   Greece isn't planning a bond offering soon, but the current cost of  servicing its outstanding debt could break the bank unless markets  relent. 
  The yield on 10-year Greek government bonds was at a  lofty 11.6% on Friday, some 9.4 percentage points above what Germany  pays for equivalent debt. The Greek treasury had hoped by this time to  be paying a spread over German bonds of only 5.0 percentage points. 
   Greek officials say they have been frustrated that the country's  fiscal-reform program and support from the International Monetary Fund  hasn't restored investor confidence and brought down the rate demanded  for its bonds. Paying yields at current levels just isn't sustainable,  they say. 
  "Although nobody in the government is talking about  the possibility of restructuring our debt, there is increasing concern  because spreads remain so high," said a senior government official  familiar with the matter. 
  "We will try to change this by  presenting to investors the progress that the Greek economy has made in  the past months," this official said. 
  The meetings begin in  London Tuesday before moving on to Paris and Frankfurt. A second trip  will probably take place in October. 
  As much as investors, Greece will need to persuade ratings agencies to bring its debt up from junk status. 
   Moody's Investors Service in June cut Greece's rating four notches to  below investment-grade, citing considerable uncertainty surrounding the  timing and impact of support measures on the country's economic growth. 
   Market experts have calculated that investors could take a hit of up  to 30% of the value of their Greek holdings if Athens is forced to  restructure its debt. 
  That potential "haircut" means the Greeks  will have to come bearing very persuasive presentations to reassure  investors, say bond market analysts. 
  "On road shows investors  would want to know about the long-term outlook, like what the country  will do when the bailout money runs out in 2012," said Ciaran O'Hagan,  fixed-income strategist at Societe Generale. 
  Markets need to be  convinced there is an iron-clad commitment to fiscal discipline. "And  naturally they want any information on when the sovereign may get  upgraded to investment-grade which is also very important," O'Hagan  said. 
  Greece, unable to tap the bond market for cash after its  fiscal crisis made borrowing costs shoot up, received a EUR110 billion  bailout in May from the IMF and the European Union. 
  In return  Athens accepted a three-year austerity program that has provoked  widespread anger with sharp spending cuts and tax increases. 
   The measures, including deep salary and pension cuts and a welter of new  taxes, have sunk Greece deep into recession, with the economy expected  to shrink 4% this year even as the rest of the world recovers from the  global downturn. That in turn crimps tax revenues, making it more  difficult for the government to narrow its deficits. 
   Expectations in financial markets that Athens will eventually be forced  to restructure its debt have kept the yield on Greek 10-year bonds at  stratospheric levels, making it too costly for the government to issue  more debt. Many investors are simply staying clear. 
 
  "Nobody is  touching our bonds because many in the market believe that we will have  to restructure," said another Greek official involved in financial  planning. "We want to allay these fears, starting with the road shows." 
   EU and IMF officials will accompany Finance Minister George  Papaconstantinou and Public Debt Management Agency chief Petros  Christodoulou on the road show, according to people in the Finance  Ministry familiar with the matter. 
  The government doesn't  expect an immediate funding problem in 2011, when it will have to raise  only EUR4.8 billion in long-term debt. "But in 2012 spreads will have to  shrink dramatically," said the official involved in financial planning.  
  In 2012 Greece has to repay EUR31.7 billion in principal and  EUR11.1 billion in interest totaling EUR42.8 billion on its bonds,  according to market data. In 2013 total repayments of principal and  interest add up to EUR36.7 billion. 
  The Greek concerns are shared by the EU because a big chunk of the country's debt is held by the region's banks. 
   European banks held EUR111.2 billion in Greek sovereign paper,  according to estimates published by the Institute for International  Finance in May of this year. 
  Institutions in France, Germany,  the U.K. and the Netherlands have the largest holdings, while U.S. banks  held only about EUR11.5 billion. 
  Greek officials speaking  privately said they are convinced that the EU and IMF, if needed, would  again come to the rescue to prevent a debt restructuring. 
  The  first Greek official said that many in the Greek government believe that  the EU and the IMF will do whatever is necessary to ensure Greece  doesn't default, even if all the government's efforts fail to persuade  the markets. 
  "One possible scenario could be extending the loan  from the EU and the IMF," one official said. "This will not amount to  debt restructuring and will give us more breathing space." 
   Greece also has to repay the various tranches of IMF and EU loans in  four to five years and the bulk of amortization is concentrated in the  2014-2015 period with about EUR70 billion of repayments per year. 
  That repayment schedule is hanging over any renewed attempt by the Greek treasury to issue new longer-term debt.