AMLO Called BlackRock’s Fink to Help Broker Argentina Deal
Mexico’s AMLO Called BlackRock’s Fink to Broker Argentina Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he spoke with BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink on behalf of Argentina as the South American nation seeks to reach a deal with top creditors in debt restructuring talks.
Lopez Obrador, who is known as AMLO, said Friday he called Fink at the behest of Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez, without saying when the call took place. He said he later called back Fernandez to explain where BlackRock stood.
Argentina “at the moment” was willing to pay 41% of its debt while Fink was proposing “50% to 55%,” AMLO said.
“I told the president of Argentina: this is where it is,” Lopez Obrador said during his daily press conference in Mexico City, adding that “a deal is better for everyone.”
Fernandez’s government is working to close an agreement to restructure $65 billion in foreign debt since defaulting on May 22, but a series of standoffs between Economy Minister Martin Guzman and creditors, including BlackRock, have delayed a deal from its initial May 8 deadline.
Lopez Obrador said Fernandez had asked for his intervention because of his “good relationship” with Fink. A person at Fernandez’s office in Buenos Aires said the Mexican president spoke to the financier earlier this week. A spokesperson for BlackRock declined to comment.
Argentina on Friday extended a deadline for creditors to accept a deal by one week until June 19, according to an economy ministry statement. Given that the nation is already in default, there are no major implications for this additional extension.
In another sign of the increasing political rapport between both Latin American nations, Fernandez said in a post on Twitter later on Friday that his administration would support Mexico’s nomination of Jesus Seade, who helped renegotiate North America’s new trade deal, to lead the World Trade Organization.
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