Greece closes offer with bond swap set to pass
Source: Reuters
ATHENS | Thu Mar 8, 2012 8:07pm GMT
(Reuters) - Greece closed a bond swap offer to private creditors on Thursday after clearing the minimum threshold of acceptance to push the deal through, moving closer to unlocking funds it needs to avoid a dangerous debt default.
Government officials said before the final deadline for declaring interest passed at 2000 GMT that more than 75 percent of eligible bonds had already been committed.
...Preliminary results from the offer are expected to be announced officially at 0600 GMT on Friday before a conference call with euro zone finance ministers in the afternoon.
Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/uk-greece-idUKBRE8270FF20120308
... The euro and stocks gained before the offers close at 10 p.m. in Athens today as Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told his Cabinet ministers that Greece had made an appropriate framework with significant incentives for bondholders. For this reason I look forward to the maximum possible participation of the private sector, Papademos said, according to an e-mailed transcript of his comments. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told Parliament that a historic process will be completed tonight, and the results announced tomorrow.
Holders of at least 60 percent of the Greek bonds eligible for the deal, including Greeces largest banks, most of the countrys pension funds and more than 30 European banks and insurers including BNP Paribas SA and Commerzbank AG (CBK), have agreed to the offer so far. That brings the total to at least 125 billion euros ($166 billion), based on data compiled by Bloomberg from company reports and government statements.
Participation is running at more than 75 percent and may surpass 80 percent, the state-run Athens News Agency reported, without saying how it got the information.
Will Go Through
The swap will go through if the rate is over 75 percent, Dirk Becker, an analyst with Kepler Capital Markets in Frankfurt, said by phone. Greece pulling it off by the skin of their teeth will still reassure the markets.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-08/greece-restructuring-deadline-looms-as-bond-investors-signal-swap-accord.html
Uh. Whout comment on my part, yet. But the skin on my teeth do need cleaning, after all this red wine, tonight.