YPF Swaps 60% of Bond’s Maturity, Making 2021 Debt ‘Manageable’
(Bloomberg) -- YPF SA, Argentina’s state-controlled oil firm, exchanged almost 60% of $1 billion of bonds due in March, reducing its immediate debt burden even though investors swapped fewer notes than some analysts expected.
YPF exchanged $587.3 million of the debt, according to a company filing. The company also paid about $90 million in cash to all investors who participated, even those who tendered after an initial July 18 deadline.
“It was a bit below the expected 70%, but the situation is manageable for YPF,” said Ezequiel Fernandez, head of equity and corporate fixed income at Balanz Capital Valores in Buenos Aires. “They can probably find at least $200 million in the
ocal market before the first quarter of 2021, and even if they have to end up burning another $200 million of their current cash, paying the remainder on the bonds should not be a major challenge.”
Investors exchanged just $3 million after the initial deadline, according to Lorena Reich, an analyst at Lucror Analytics in Buenos Aires. “Usually most holders decide whether to exchange or not before the early deadline,” Reich said. “But I believe that the company is in a much more comfortable position now than before the exchange.”
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Scott Squires in Buenos Aires at ssquires4@bloomberg.net
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Carolina Millan at cmillanronch@bloomberg.net
Alec D.B. McCabe