Investors With 60% of Greek Bonds Agree to Swap
Source: Business Week
Investors with about 60 percent of the Greek bonds eligible for the nation’s debt swap have so far indicated they’ll participate, putting the country on the verge of the biggest sovereign restructuring in history.
Greece’s largest banks, most of the country’s pension funds, and more than 30 European banks and insurers including BNP Paribas (BNP) SA, Commerzbank AG (CBK) and Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G) have agreed to the offer. That brings the total to about 124 billion euros ($163 billion), based on data compiled by Bloomberg from company reports and government statements.
The goal of the exchange is to reduce the 206 billion euros of privately held Greek debt by 53.5 percent and turn the tide against the debt crisis that has roiled Europe for more than two years. While Greece would prefer a voluntary deal, the government has said it will use collective action clauses to force holders of Greek-law bonds into the swap if the so-called private sector involvement falls short and it gets sufficient approval from investors to change the bonds’ terms.
“Adding up the commitments to participate in the Greek PSI, it is now clear that the CAC hurdles will very likely be cleared,” Commerzbank’s head of fixed-income strategy, Christoph Rieger, said in a note yesterday. Under the rules of the exchange, investors holding at least 50 percent of the eligible bonds must vote on the swap, and 66 percent of those must agree to amend the bonds to enable the government to impose the collective action clauses, Rieger said.
Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-07/investors-with-39-percent-of-greek-debt-agree-to-join-in-swap-iif-says
This means crisis averted.. once again. They were on the verge of an uncontrolled default but now its more like a controlled default which is what most everyone wants.
= new reply since forum marked as read
(Reuters) - Major banks and pension funds threw their weight behind Greece's bond swap offer to private creditors, making it increasingly likely the deal will pass and clear the way for a bailout package to avert an immediate default.
With the 8 p.m. deadline for acceptances nearing and holders of at least 57 percent of the total 206 billion euros in outstanding debt already committed, there appeared to be growing confidence in Athens that the exchange would go through.
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Some hedge funds and several Greek pension funds were holding out but the high level of acceptances well before the deadline suggested that the deal was progressing smoothly despite initial warnings of a low take-up.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/uk-greece-idUKBRE8270FF20120308 ATHENS | Thu Mar 8, 2012 9:32am GMT
I'm still not sure whether or not those who don't accept can have their CDSs triggered. 
Notwithstanding that all of the new bonds are covered by international law : not Greek law. That means no pay - surrender state assets.
edited : noticed it duplicates you OP. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/investors-with-39-of-greek-debt-agree-to-join-in-swap-iif-says.html
