The agreement is a victory for the country’s new president.
For more than 14 years Elliott Management, the hedge fund led by Paul Singer, was the pantomime villain in Argentina’s dispute with its bondholders. Rather than accepting a big write-down, as other creditors did during restructurings in 2005 and 2010, Elliott, along with several other “holdout” creditors, pursued full payment through the New York courts. That led to a default by Argentina in 2014.
Now the drama is entering its final act. On February 29th Daniel Pollack, the court-appointed mediator, announced that Argentina had reached an agreement in principle with four of the largest creditors, led by Elliott. Argentina’s payment of $4.65 billion will be 25% less than they were claiming. With this agreement, Argentina has settled with creditors who hold 85% of the disputed debt.
The Economist