STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 30 August 2013

[Demeter]

5. DON'T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA

Argentina to offer debt swap changing bond payments

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/26/argentina-debt-idUSE6N09G01C20130826

Argentina will offer a bond swap on restructured sovereign debt to shift payments to Buenos Aires, President Cristina Fernandez said on Monday, in an attempt to avoid the impact of U.S. court rulings that threaten to interrupt payments.

The voluntary swap covering debt in all foreign markets would only take place if Argentina's ongoing appeals of the U.S. court rulings are rejected, a government source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Argentina on Friday lost its appeal of a U.S. court order requiring it to pay $1.33 billion to hedge funds that refused to accept steep discounts when the nation restructured its debt in the years following a massive default in 2002.

The 93 percent of bondholders who accepted restructurings in 2005 and 2010, receiving less than 30 cents on the dollar, worry that Argentina's refusal to pay bond "holdouts" in the face of the court orders could result in a freeze on the payment of restructured bonds.

Argentina bond risk up as proposed debt swap undercuts U.S. ruling

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/27/argentina-debt-risk-idUSL2N0GS0RC20130827

Argentina's borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as an attempt to move the country's debt beyond the reach of foreign law risked aggravating U.S. federal courts that are judging its defense against holdout bondholders. President Cristina Fernandez offered on Monday to exchange foreign debt for bonds paying in Buenos Aires, which would skirt a U.S. court decision requiring her government to pay $1.3 billion to creditors who have rejected debt restructurings. Argentina has so far avoided a debt crisis thanks to the restraint of judges, who last week surprised some observers with a stay order delaying implementation of their decision pending review by the Supreme Court.

"The fear is that Argentina is trying to avoid the court's ruling," said Alejo Costa, the head of strategy at investment bank Puente in Buenos Aires. "If Argentina tries to defy the court and judges lift their stay order, we have a problem."

If Argentina refuses to pay holdouts despite a judge's active order, courts could block payment of creditors who participated in the country's 2005 and 2010 debt restructurings. That would throw some $28 billion of foreign debt into technical default, triggering Argentina's second debt crisis in a little over a decade and threatening a recovery in South America's third-biggest economy. Argentina's risk premium rose 37 basis points to 1,113 basis points, according to J.P.Morgan's EMBI+ index, representing a rising spread in the yield between the Argentine bonds and comparable U.S. Treasuries. The country's five-year credit default swaps jumped as much 350 basis points early on Tuesday, before settling to an 85 basis-point rise. Argentina's dollar-denominated discount bond fell 4 percent in the Buenos Aires over-the-counter market. U.S. courts have repeatedly rebuked the attitude of officials in Argentina, which 2nd Circuit Judge Barrington Parker has called a "uniquely recalcitrant debtor."

"Argentina's officials have publicly and repeatedly announced their intention to defy any rulings of this Court and the district court with which they disagree," Parker wrote in a ruling against the country on Friday.