Ruling on Lebanon Debt Insurance Paves Way for $400m Payout

(Bloomberg) --

Investors in credit insurance on Lebanon are set to receive a payout after a binding ruling from a CDS committee.

Up to roughly $400 million of contracts could pay after the heavily-indebted nation failed to honor a $1.2 billion Eurobond due earlier this month. The exact value will be decided at an auction to settle the credit swaps, which will take place at a later date.

The Middle Eastern country is struggling to cope with dwindling foreign-currency reserves and double-digit inflation amid its worst financial crisis in decades. A new government backed by Hezbollah, the Iranian-linked group, is seeking to draw up an economic program that cuts debt and overhauls the country’s banking industry.

Lebanon wants to reduce its debt to between 60% and 80% of gross domestic product from 170% as part of the restructuring efforts, Economy Minister Raoul Nehme told Bloomberg earlier this month. The nation has $30 billion of international bonds.

Lebanon joins a series of sovereigns that have defaulted in recent years including Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Ukraine.

The contracts, used to bet on a borrower failing to keep up with its debts, are the second-most expensive in the world, only surpassed by Argentina. It costs the equivalent of about 15,000 basis points to insure Lebanon’s debt against default for five years, compared with a roughly 400 basis-point average for the Markit CDX Emerging Markets index.

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