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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Well, this was fun while it lasted. Now what did it mean?
Click to enlarge the document capping a weird week in the pari passu saga:
It’s an order from the Second Circuit on Thursday, denying an unusual request filed on Monday by the Italian retail investors who count themselves among Argentina’s holdouts.
Although looking back at it, was the unusual or just ahead of the curve? Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
With its latest submission in this Court, the Republic of Argentina continues its long and consistent pattern of defaulting on its contractual obligations, defying the laws of the United States (which its contracts expressly invoked), and showing contempt for the courts to whose jurisdiction it unreservedly submitted. The government of Argentina plainly believes the rule of law does not apply to it…
Guess that’s a no, then. Read more
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Learn moreFile under: Argentina’s battle with its holdouts and the effects thereof on pari passu clauses in sovereign bond contracts elsewhere in the world — with a special crossover to the changing legal status of official lenders in the eurozone crisis.
Spot the difference edition. Read more
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Learn moreFresh off the US Supreme Court’s order list on Monday:
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Learn moreAs the pari passu saga in New York rattles towards its end… (or is it?)
The contest of wills and/or highly-paid lawyers between Elliott and Argentina goes on elsewhere, of course. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Update (4 April) – The Second Circuit has ordered NML to respond to the Argentine proposal by April 22. Which is as expected but more time on the clock for the Republic.
______________________ Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
In theory, there was no offer. “This is a proposal to judges, not an offer to vultures,” Argentina’s finance minister tweeted at the weekend.
For their part, the three judges of the US Second Circuit had ordered Argentina to tell them “how and when it proposes to make current those debt obligations on the original bonds that have gone unpaid over the last 11 years” (emphasis ours). It’s a last act in the battle that Argentina has been losing to stop restructured debt payments being linked to its defaulted bonds under the pari passu clause.
In practice, the 22-page letter that the government sent to the Second Circuit on Friday — containing “options” for holdouts to take payments “equitably and ratably” with bondholders who swallowed its 2010 debt restructuring, by getting restructured bonds in place of the original debt — pretty much was an offer.
And — it looks like — not one the judges can accept. Meanwhile, the market has panicked like wildebeest. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Guess it pretty much comes down to the alternative ‘formula’ for paying its holdouts which Argentina will be making to the Second Circuit at the end of this week, then.
The court on Thursday denied the government’s separate request to have its pari passu case reheard ‘en banc‘ — that being when a full court hears your case, instead of a panel of judges (which is usual): Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Some excerpts from a lawsuit filed by the Export-Import Bank of China (Taipei) against Grenada in a United States district court on March 4, 2013…
If you have been following the pari passu saga on ratable payment of sovereign debt — they tell their own story. (Click to enlarge all images.) Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
In case you didn’t fancy ploughing through our 3,000+ words on NML v Argentina last week at the Second Circuit…
Barclays’ analysts have boiled down the next turning point in the pari passu saga into two paragraphs, in their March 5 note (irresistibly titled ‘Cram-down or sanctity of contract? Is there a way out?’): Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Headline via the Harlan Ellison short story. “Timewise, it was jangle…”
What a week for the pari passu saga, and the fight to show that an order for Argentina to pay holdouts ‘ratably’ alongside its restructured sovereign debt is both over-reaching, and an unfair threat to third-party bondholders and banks.
Yep, FT Alphaville also went along to the oral argument before three judges of the Second Circuit in NML v Argentina on Wednesday, along with about 300 other people. A pretty crazy affair in itself, the hearing has now led to a follow-up order from the court, telling Argentina to give “precise terms” explaining how it would pay holdouts, and how it would obey any decision of the Second Circuit. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
We haven’t written up our full take on Wednesday’s (nuts) oral argument in NML v Argentina (sorry), though you should read this, just out from the Second Circuit on Friday…
The court has ordered Argentina to specify “precise terms” of how it would wish to pay holdouts, differently to the current injunction to pay them ‘ratably’ in full: Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
A great resource from Shearman & Sterling, in their note marking the end of the briefing war in the Argentine vs holdouts pari passu saga.
It’s a schematic of the arguments which the Second Circuit will likely consider when deciding appeals against an order for Argentina to pay holdouts alongside restructured bondholders. Some of the arguments are key. Some are not so key. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
As if we could keep away from the latest paper mountain in the pari passu saga.
Argentina and its restructured bondholders (and Bank of New York Mellon) filed briefs to the Second Circuit on Friday, returning fire at the most recent salvo from holdouts. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
At times, pursuing a defaulted sovereign debtor for full payment can almost (almost) come across as a facetious exercise. As when NML’s latest brief in the Argentine pari passu case quotes Casablanca. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Holdouts’ opposition papers in the Argentine pari passu saga had just landed at pixel time on Friday. Here’s the one from NML itself, and here’s the one from other holdouts including Aurelius Capital.
We’ll try to do a proper take later on what the briefs say, but first, we thought we’d devote this post to some context on where the litigation is going as well. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
If you thought the Argentine pari passu bond saga had taken the holiday dead period off — then you don’t know the pari passu saga very well.
Some interesting developments squeezed in before the new year… Read more
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Learn moreTake one warship rescued from asset seizure by bond holdouts.
Add swelling music, defiant rhetoric by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the national flag stirring in the Atlantic breeze, and messages home from crewmen who remained on board while the dispute played out in a Ghanaian port and Hamburg tribunal… Read more
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Learn moreAnd so an Argentine training warship is free to sail off into the sunset, and out of the clutches of bond holdouts.
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, inside a pari passu clause.
Here are some terms from Italy’s 2015 US dollar bond, which it issued under New York law in 2010. It is a pari passu clause, even though you won’t find the words ‘pari passu’. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Yep, this is a Greece post in a series on Argentina and the pari passu saga.
We’ll explain. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
On October 26, the Second Circuit chucked out Argentina’s appeal against having to pay bond holdouts, having had “little difficulty concluding” that the defaulted debt’s dusty, old — but contractually standard — pari passu clause demanded rateable payment. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
And so ends a little saga-within-a-saga in the Argentine bond holdout case (but one which shed interesting light on the various sides’ litigating strategies). Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
UPDATE – Beyond the to-and-fro about stays and the Second Circuit in the post below…
Bank of New York Mellon has filed for leave to appeal Judge Griesa’s revised order for Argentina to pay (and for third parties not to assist it in not paying – including BNY). This is a significant move given the role of BNY enabling payments to restructured holders as their trustee. It was kind of stuck in the middle over the dispute between Argentina, holdouts and restructured bondholders, and had last asked courts to clarify its obligations. This filing marshals indenture trust law, Rule 65(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and “dangerous precedent” to seek to challenge the merits of Judge Griesa’s ruling itself. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Looks like those emergency bondholder briefs had some effect on the Second Circuit…
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion by the Exchange Bondholder Group for leave to intervene as interested non-parties for the purpose of appealing orders entered by the district court on 11/21/12 and for the purpose of seeking a stay pending appeal is GRANTED. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Stay, actually. An emergency motion for a stay on Judge Griesa’s sweeping order in the Argentine bond holdouts case — filed on Monday night by the Exchange Bondholder Group:
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
It’s fair to say that many of those following Argentina’s grand bond holdout battle have been simply flattened by this week’s turn of events.
(Sometimes, literally so.) Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
Let’s say you took part in Argentina’s original, 2005 debt restructuring.
You exchanged your luckless bonds for securities worth around 30 cents of your original dollar. You took your lumps – and you checked, very carefully, the complicated payment structure designed to ensure the Republic can’t stiff you in the future. Read more
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Learn moreThe "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.
For the complete experience of Judge Griesa ordering Argentina to pay holdouts in full and, even more importantly, extending duties to comply with that order to a very wide range of third parties…
Make sure to read his opinion on the pari passu basis; then the amended order to pay; and also — and a red rag to the bull for a government which is very unlikely to make that payment — a ruling that “threats of defiance” from Buenos Aires have pushed him to December 15, 2012 as the due date. No waiting around for the gavel to strike, here. Read more
| Market | Last price | Today's change |
52 week high |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTSE 100 Index: FSI As of May 21 2013 16:35 |
6,804 | +48.24 | +0.7% | 6,804 |
| FTSEurofirst 300 Index: FSI As of May 21 2013 17:15 |
1,253 | +1.13 | +0.1% | 1,253 |
| S&P 500 INDEX: WCB As of May 20 2013 05:00 |
1,666 | -1.18 | -0.1% | 1,673 |
| Euro/US Dollar FX Spot Rate As of May 21 2013 19:19 |
1.29 | 0.00 | +0.2% | 1.37 |
| ICE Brent Crude Oil Front Month: IEU As of May 21 2013 19:50 |
103.87 | -0.93 | -0.9% | 119.17 |
| COMEX GOLD 1 FUTURES CHAIN Front Mon: CMX As of May 21 2013 17:28 |
1,378 | -6.10 | -0.4% | 1,795 |
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