NEW YORK |
NEW YORK Dec 23 (Reuters) - One big holder of defaulted Argentine debt rebuffed the government's latest efforts to mop up the last $6.1 billion in bonds held by investors, saying on Thursday the latest offer is "grossly inadequate."
Argentina reopened on Wednesday a debt swap that was launched earlier this year in an attempt to reduce the number of lawsuits against the country. Investors sued when Argentina, Latin America's No. 3 economy, defaulted on $100 billion worth of sovereign bonds in 2002.
Aurelius, a so-called vulture fund that holds approximately $300 million worth of defaulted Argentine debt, told Reuters in an email why it spurned the swap offer.
"Aurelius did not participate in Argentina's exchange offer last June and will not do so now. Aurelius considers the offer grossly inadequate," a spokesperson for Aurelius said in response to questions about the new swap.
"Argentina still has outstanding several billion dollars of defaulted bond debt, which continues to accrue interest. When Argentina is prepared to act responsibly, we will be prepared to settle the matter on appropriate terms. Until then, we will be unrelenting," the e-mail said.
New York-based Aurelius, a specialist in distressed assets, is run by Mark Brodsky.
Argentine Finance Secretary Hernan Lorenzino told Reuters that vulture funds, which are trying to recover the full value of the defaulted bonds through the courts, own about $4 billion of the debt that has not been restructured.
Another holdout, NML, declined to comment on the government's swap reopening. NML has $2 billion owed to it by Argentina, a source close to the firm told Reuters on Wednesday.
The lawsuits have complicated Argentina's efforts to return to the global credit markets after a nine-year absence. By law, the government must finish restructuring its defaulted debt by Dec. 30, or seek renewed congressional authorization.
In June, Argentina carried out a $12.2 billion debt swap, regularizing nearly 92 percent of defaulted bonds between this exchange and a similar, harsh 2005 restructuring.
On Thursday, in thin pre-holiday conditions, Argentina's debt spreads on the JPMorgan Emerging Market Bond Index Plus 11EMJ.JPMEMBIPLUS narrowed by 15 basis points to 480 basis points over comparable U.S. Treasuries.
For more on the news swap, click on [ID:nN22289535] (Editing by Leslie Adler)
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