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What happens after a potential “Failure to Pay” credit event?
If a credit event is determined to have occurred, a CDS auction would follow. The DC will then ask for
deliverable obligations (used to settle the CDS in the auction) to be submitted for consideration and will analyze
those that have been submitted to ensure they are deliverable. These deliverables are then announced by ISDA
prior to the auction. Argentina’s auction followed about a month later, while Ukraine had an expedited auction
ahead of the bond restructuring process.
As of November 3, there is an estimated $1.31bn in net notional outstanding of single-name Venezuela CDS and
$0.27bn in net notional outstanding of single-name PDVSA CDS. There is an estimated additional $0.56bn in
Venezuela CDS through CDX.EM index positions. In comparison, prior to their CDS auctions, Argentina was
estimated to have $1.04bn in single-name and an additional $0.68bn through CDX.EM, and Ukraine was
estimated to have $0.40bn in single-name and an additional $0.47bn through CDX.EM.
Settlement issues around sanctioned bonds should be mitigated by the ISDA protocol which was launched in
October (see Venezuela and PDVSA CDS: A protocol is launching: ISDA to launch a process to incorporate
new language for Venezuela & PDVSA, 10 October 2017). In October, ISDA published new language for
Venezuela and PDVSA CDS that excludes any bonds that are restricted under the sanctions as obligations or
deliverable obligations for CDS and the new CDX.EM Series 28 already trades incorporating this language.
ISDA launched a protocol to incorporate this new language as a solution to isolate Venezuela CDS from the
issues around bonds that fall under the sanctions, to enable trading and to future-proof against credit event
settlement issues. As of October 26 2017, the new protocol is determined to have been implemented by ISDA,
after the Protocol Effectiveness Condition was deemed to have been satisfied (see ISDA 2017 Venezuela
Additional Provisions Protocol).
The Auction Process and the ‘Cheapest to Deliver’ Bond
A CDS auction is used to determine the final recovery rate for CDS contracts. In the auction process,
investors can opt to physically settle (deliver bonds against a CDS contract that bought protection and receive
100%) or cash settle (receive a payout equal to 100% - auction recovery rate). The auction recovery rate is the
price paid in the auction that that finally clears the auction balance of bonds that are being delivered. The price
that bonds trade at is therefore used to determine the payoff from CDS contracts. Investors who wish to cash
settle their CDS contracts need do nothing and will pay or receive 100%-auction recovery rate. CDS investors
looking to physically settle (i.e. pay $100 and receive bonds worth 100% notional or receive $100 and deliver
100% notional) can also do so through the auction. These investors enter a market order in round one of the
auction and are unaffected by the final recovery rate in the auction.
The auction also provides an opportunity for non-CDS market participants who wish to either buy or sell
bonds to access the liquidity provided by the auction. In the second round of the auction, any market
participant can enter a limit order to either buy or sell bonds depending on the direction of the open interest in
round one.
Cheapest to Deliver Bonds into the Auction
CDS auctions typically settle on the cheapest to deliver bond – the lowest price bond that meets the
deliverability criteria. Any deliverable bond can be delivered into the CDS auction and any investor entering
either a market or limit order in the auction should expect to be delivered the lowest price bond. Investors who
own CDS against a higher priced bond are better off either selling their bond and buying a cheaper bond to
deliver into the auction, or cash settling their CDS (likely based on the lower priced bond) and either selling or
holding onto their existing bond. Table 2 below summarizes USD-denominated Venezuela and PDVSA bonds
and current indicative prices.
Venezuela CDS trades under “Standard Latin America Sovereign”, and the criteria for deliverability include
“Not Subordinated, Specified Currency, Not Domestic Law, Not Contingent, Not Domestic Issuance,
Transferable. Not Bearer”. PDVSA CDS trades under “Standard Latin America Corporate BL” and the criteria
for deliverability include “Not Subordinated, Specified Currency, Not Sovereign Lender, Not Domestic Law,
Not Contingent, Not Domestic Issuance, Assignable Loan, Consent Required Loan, Transferable, Not Bearer”.
This means that for Venezuela only bonds are deliverable, for PDVSA bonds and loans are deliverable.