Ahead of a major financial event for Argentina — a $20bn debt swap that would herald a new era in its tangled relationship with the capital markets — FT correspondent Jude Webber offers insight into the mood of the country’s finance secretary.
Hernán Lorenzino, Argentina’s finance secretary, looks remarkably relaxed for a man structuring a complex debt swap that could make or break the country’s ability to return to global capital markets.
He’s even hoping to slip in a family holiday at the beach over Easter before the green light from regulators in Europe means thunderbirds are go.
And he has plenty to smile about – though on paper this offer looks to be at least as tough as the debt restructuring Argentina pushed through in 2005, four years after its default. In fact better market conditions have heightened its appeal, pushing its value into the 50s, not 33 like in 2005.
What Argentina is keen to stress now is that it has gone out of its way to tailor the deal as much as possible to retail investors, especially those in Italy who were and remain sceptical. In that sense, Mr Lorenzino’s smiles look like a more softly-softly approach than the hard-line taken five years ago.
Nonetheless, the ultimate message – accept now, it’s your final chance – remains the same. Mr Lorenzino’s cool must also reflect relief the nail-biting SEC approval stage is over and with market sentiment positive on the offer, Argentina must be feeling it’s in the home straits of a very long and bumpy ride.
Jude Webber is the FT’s correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay (which she most recently wrote about in a piece for the weekend magazine - ‘Ciudad del Este’s deadly trade route‘)
Related links:
Argentine groups may revisit international bonds – FT
Martin Wolf: Argentina holds a weak hand – FT (2005)
Corporate bond issues go local to deliver capital lift – FT
Would you like some chips with that Argentine exposure? – FT Alphaville (2008)
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