RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s Buenos Aires province extend the deadline for creditors to accept a US$7 billion debt restructuring offer until near the end of February after bondholders had warned they could demand repayment amid a lack of progress in talks.
The provincial government said in a statement on Monday, February 1st, that the deadline for accepting the offer, which has previously been knocked back by bondholders, would be pushed to February 26th after the previous cut-off passed last Friday.
A major bondholder group said last week it was concerned by a “continuing absence of progress in curing the Province’s long-standing payment default” and that it may be forced to accelerate payment of some of the bonds or make use of legal enforcement of the bond contracts.
The group, which says it holds around half of Buenos Aires’ external bonded debt, criticized the provincial government for making “no effort to bridge the gap” between the two sides despite repeatedly extending the offer deadline.