[BLOOMBERG] Standard & Poor's declared Argentina in default after the government missed a deadline for paying interest on $13 billion of restructured bonds.
The South American country failed to get the $539 million payment to bondholders after a U.S. judge ruled that the money couldn't be distributed unless a group of hedge funds holding defaulted debt also got paid. Argentina, in default for the second time in 13 years, has about $200 billion in foreign-currency debt, including $30 billion of restructured bonds, according to S&P.
Argentina and the hedge funds, led by billionaire Paul Singer's Elliott Management Corp., failed to reach agreement in talks today in New York, according to the court-appointed mediator in the case, Daniel Pollack. In a presser after the talks ended, Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof described the group of creditors as "vulture funds" and said the country wouldn't sign an accord under "extortion." |