Argentina, lead creditors agree on US$4.65b settlement to end debt battle

Buenos Aires

ARGENTINA has agreed to a US$4.65 billion cash payment to its main holdout creditors and will present the deal to Congress this week for a vote which would end 14 years of bitter legal battles and pave the way for its return to global credit markets.

Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said that he hoped to issue two or three new sovereign bonds on international markets for a total of up to US$15 billion in April if lawmakers were swift in backing the accord. The bonds would finance the payout to all holdout creditors who had reached an agreement, he said.