اليونان تتفق مع دائنيها من القطاع الخاص بنسبة 95% والاتحاد الاوربي يوافق على معونة مالية لليونان بقيمة 47 مليار يورو

[مجرد إنسان]

اليونان تتفق مع دائنيها من القطاع الخاص بنسبة 95% والاتحاد الاوربي يوافق على معونة مالية لليونان بقيمة 47 مليار يورو

Greece Pushes Bondholders Into Record Debt Swap
By Maria Petrakis and Rebecca Christie - Mar 9, 2012 7:23 PM GMT+0200

Greece Forces Losses on Bondholders

Greece pushed through the biggest sovereign restructuring in history after getting private investors to forgive more than 100 billion euros ($132 billion) of debt, opening the way for a second bailout.

Euro-region finance ministers agreed on a conference call that with the swap Greece had met the terms for a 130 billion- euro rescue package designed to prevent a collapse of the economy. Ministers freed up 35.5 billion euros in payments and interest for bondholders, with a decision on the balance of the bailout funds to be made at a March 12 meeting in Brussels.



“The very strong and positive result provides a major opportunity now for Greece to move ahead with its economic reform program,” Josef Ackermann, chairman of the Institute of International Finance who is also chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank AG, said in an e-mailed statement. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

“It would be a big mistake to think we are out of the woods,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters in Berlin after the call today. “We have a chance of making it. And we have to seize that opportunity.”

Stocks rose while the euro fell after the government in Athens said it will trigger an option forcing some investors to take part in the exchange. Officials from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association called a meeting today to consider a “potential credit event” relating to Greece, while Fitch Ratings cut the nation’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings to “Restricted Default.”
Participation Rate

Investors with 95.7 percent of Greece’s privately held bonds will participate in the swap after so-called collective action clauses are triggered, the Finance Ministry said. Bondholders tendered 152 billion euros of Gr-law bonds, or 85.8 percent, and 20 billion euros of foreign-law debt. Greece extended its offer to holders of non-Gr law bonds to March 23, after which sweeteners will no longer be available.

The result was “very strong and positive,” said Josef Ackermann, chairman of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, which led negotiations with the Gr government on behalf of private bondholders. “These are important steps towards resolving the Gr debt crisis, addressing the overall fiscal and sovereign debt problems in the euro area, and restoring financial stability.”

The goal of the exchange was to reduce the 206 billion euros of privately-held Gr debt by 53.5 percent. The swap dwarfs Argentina’s 2005 restructuring, previously the largest, when that nation sought to exchange $81.8 billion of sovereign debt.
CDS Contracts

Even with the restructuring almost completed, Greece faces hurdles. Europe’s most indebted nation will be saddled with borrowings equivalent to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 under current targets. The Gr government must continue to meet the terms laid down by its international creditors to receive aid payments at three-monthly intervals. Elections in April or May might still upend adherence to the measures demanded.

Gr GDP was 7.5 percent lower in the fourth quarter than a year earlier, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said today. The economy is mired in a fifth year of recession.

Gr Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said that participation “surpassed expectations” and the Cabinet approved plans to activate the collective action clauses that had been retroactively added to the bonds. Forcing bondholders to participate may trigger $3 billion of insurance payouts under rules governing credit-default swap contracts.

“This is a dangerous precedent,” John Wraith, fixed- income strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. For Greece, “yes, it is probably necessary, but it is just another hurdle crossed rather than some sort of solution.”
‘Sanctity Lessened’

The euro weakened for the first time in three days, dropping 1.3 percent to $1.3105 as of 6:07 p.m. in Berlin. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5 percent to 265.44.

For bond investors, “the rules have been changed here,” Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt. “The sanctity of their contracts is certainly lessened. Bondholders have that to look forward to going into the future.”

The writedown is a key element in European leaders’ efforts to turn the tide against the crisis that first emerged in Greece in late 2009, then forced Ireland and Portugal to follow Greece in requiring bailouts.

Germany and France, Europe’s two biggest economies that have steered the euro-area’s response to the crisis, welcomed the debt-swap take-up. The swap was a “great success” and “good news,” and “hits all the objectives we set ourselves,” French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said on RTL Radio.
Merkel ‘Pleased’

Chancellor Angela Merkel is “pleased” about the “high level of participation of private creditors,” Steffen Seibert, her chief spokesman, said in Berlin. It is “an encouraging result that will help put Greece on a path to stability. What’s important now is for Greece to seize the opportunity offered by this debt swap, meaning it implements the agreed programs.”

Greece’s largest banks, most of the country’s pension funds and more than 30 European banks and insurers including BNP Paribas SA and Commerzbank AG (CBK), had said they would agree to the offer before it closed yesterday at 10 p.m. Athens time.

In the exchange, investors will receive new bonds with a face value of 31.5 percent of the old ones together with notes from the European Financial Stability Facility. The new debt is governed by English law and comes with warrants that will provide extra income in years when Gr economic growth exceeds thresholds. The net present value loss for investors is more than 70 percent.

“Despite all the justified happiness about this issue we have to note that Greece is only buying time,” Michael Kemmer, general manager of the BdB Association of German banks, said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio. “This is an important step -- the private sector showed solidarity. That’s good, but the work has only just begun.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Petrakis at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
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EU Approves $47 Billion for Greece While Backing Bond Swap With Creditors
By Rebecca Christie - Mar 9, 2012 3:51 PM GMT+0200
Sovereign Debt Flight Expected on Gr Precedent

Euro-area finance ministers freed 35.5 billion euros ($47 billion) of aid for Greece and backed the country’s debt swap with private creditors, including the use of collective action clauses.

The decision, made by ministers on a conference call today, allows the bond swap to close this month as planned with as much as 30 billion euros in public sweeteners, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the group of euro-region finance chiefs, said in an e-mailed statement. They also released 5.5 billion euros for Gr interest payments and said Greece was on track to win the rest of its bailout funds.
Enlarge image

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Play Video

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Italy's deputy finance minister Vittorio Grilli discusses the economy and the possible triggering of credit default swaps on Gr bonds. He speaks in Rome with Bloomberg Television's David Tweed. (Source: Bloomberg)
Audio Download: Gross Says Gr Default Swaps to Be Triggered

“The necessary conditions are in place to launch the relevant national procedures required for the final approval of the euro area’s contribution to the financing of a second Gr rescue package,” Juncker said. He welcomed a report from European and International Monetary Fund officials on Greece’s efforts and said the ministers expect a “significant contribution” from the IMF in the new package.

Euro leaders have hailed the debt exchange as a central element in their efforts to contain the sovereign debt crisis and get Greece’s economy back on track. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said yesterday that the crisis, had it remained unchecked, could have done more damage to the global economy than the financial market collapse of 2008.
‘Harder Default’

The debt swap and second rescue package may not cure Greece’s long-term debt woes, said Charles Wyplosz, director of the Geneva-based International Center for Money and Banking Studies. The debt swap aims to reduce Greece’s debt burden by more than 100 billion euros and lower debt to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.

“We still don’t have a solution for Greece, so there will be a harder default to come,” Wyplosz said. “Greece can’t grow with this kind of debt so something more has to give.”

The euro-area ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels on March 12 to discuss further elements of Europe’s crisis- fighting efforts, including whether and how to increase the firewall provided by the euro area’s rescue funds. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that ministers will decide on the main Gr aid package at that meeting.
‘Only a Foundation’

While the participation rate in the swap was “very heartening,” it remains decisive that Greece now carries out the necessary economic reforms, he said. “Naturally, this is only a foundation that’s been laid,” he told reporters in Berlin.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s determinations committee meets in London today to weigh whether the use of the collective action clauses is a credit event that will trigger the swaps. Schaeuble said that decision won’t affect Greece’s aid.

Juncker said today that ministers had been told Greece would use collective action clauses on bonds governed by Gr law and that finance ministers were encouraged by “high private-sector participation” in the swap. The ministers said participation could rise further during a sign-up extension for bonds governed by foreign law.

The debt swap operation has been a “resounding success,” said Amadeu Altafaj, a spokesman for economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, to reporters in Brussels today.
New Bonds

The Gr government said today it will reach its target for the debt restructuring, with investors holding 95.7 percent of eligible bonds taking part. The government’s figure includes using the clauses to enforce participation, a move that may trigger insurance payouts under rules governing credit-default swap contracts.

In the exchange, investors will receive new bonds with a face value of 31.5 percent of the old ones together with notes from the European Financial Stability Facility. The new debt is governed by English law and comes with warrants that will provide extra income in years when Gr economic growth exceeds thresholds. The net present value loss for investors is more than 70 percent.

If the swaps do get triggered, it probably won’t roil financial markets, Italy’s deputy finance minister, Vittorio Grilli, told Bloomberg News today.

“I think it’s in the market already,” Grilli said. “It is not that it will be taking anyone by surprise. So I think a lot of these events are already priced in.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Christie in Brussels at rchristie4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net


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هذه الاخبار ستصعد بالذهب ، ولكن لسوء حظ الذهب انها نهاية الاسبوع ^_^