Argentina has completed the largest and most
complex sovereign bond restructuring in history. Before the
debt exchange, it owed about $82 billion in principal and $20
billion in past due interest. Hundreds of thousands of
creditors held 150 kinds of defaulted instruments issued in
six currencies under the laws of eight jurisdictions.
Creditors owed just over 76% of the total, or $62 billion, got
$35 billion in new performing bonds. Other performing debt
includes $40 billion in domestic and about $30 billion in
multi-lateral obligations. Argentina left behind almost $25
billion in defaulted principal and interest.
The morning after the tender, newspaper editorials around the
world heralded a new era for sovereign debt, for the emerging
markets and, occasionally, for international finance. Their views
on what the Argentina deal means were as disparate as they were
definitive. Some said the exchange would close the markets to
middle-income countries. To others, it reaffirmed the markets'
resilience. Some...