Argentina Extends Debt Deadline As Guzman Nods Toward New Offer

(Bloomberg) -- Argentina extended a deadline for creditors to accept a debt restructuring proposal for the fourth time as creditors and the government edge closer toward a deal.

The country will push back the deadline for creditors to accept a debt restructuring offer by one week until June 19, according to an economy ministry statement.

Argentine Economy Minister Martin Guzman said on Friday officials would continue negotiating with creditors over the weekend until non-disclosure agreements that have kept the content of the talks private expire on June 16.

“The closing date of the offer is being extended so that we can amend it after Tuesday, when the confidentiality agreements expire,” Guzman said. “Talks with creditors will also continue until that date.”

After defaulting on its debt last month, Argentina’s successive deadline extensions hold little material significance to the talks as investors have said they’re unlikely to take legal action as the negotiations continue. The latest extension was designed to show that the negotiations are moving forward, and that the two sides are closing in on a deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Argentina is locked in talks with creditors to restructure $65 billion in international bonds after it defaulted on its sovereign debt on May 22 for the ninth time in its history. The government has said it couldn’t make good on its foreign debt obligations, even before the country went into lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The government will improve its debt restructuring proposal in the next “days or weeks” and this will be the final offer, Guzman said in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico yesterday.

The country’s CDS Panel said its bonds were given a final of 31.5% in an auction Friday to settle credit-default swaps, triggering a payout of 68.5% on the contracts. Argentina has about $2.2 billion of net notional outstanding CDS contracts, according to JPMorgan.

Read More: Argentina Debt Swaps Set to Pay $1.5 Billion After Default

The country’s $4.5 billion in bonds due next year edged up 0.3 cent to 41 cents on the dollar. The bonds have traded flat since the country’s default, according to a recommendation from the Emerging Markets Traders Association.

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