US vulture fund profits from bond payout
Most of the money Greece used to pay in full a 436-million-euro
foreign law bond on Tuesday went to a vulture fund, the New York Times
has reported.
“Almost 90 percent was delivered to the coffers of
Dart Management, a secretive investment fund based in the Cayman
Islands, according to people with direct knowledge of the transaction,”
the newspaper said.
“Dart is one of the best known of the
so-called vulture funds, which have a track record of buying the
distressed bonds of nearly bankrupt countries — and if they do not get
paid, suing the governments for the money.”
Dart is likely to have
bought the bond on the secondary market for 60 to 70 percent of its
face value. Private investors, including some 11,000 retail bondholders
in Greece, had to accept a 75 percent haircut on their notes in February
as part of a debt restructuring scheme.
“Dart’s payday may well
offer encouragement to other holdouts among investors now in possession
of about 6 billion euros in Greek bonds. Another payment is due in
September, although for a lesser amount,” writes the New York Times.
Greece
has not explained why it paid the bond in full. Party leaders discussed
the issue when they held talks with President Karolos Papoulias but it
was decided that outgoing Prime Minister Lucas Papademos should take the
final decision. The initial position, which had been backed by Greece’s
eurozone partners, was to not pay the bond. However, the uncertainty
over Greece’s future caused the eurozone to waver and Greek officials to
opt for the safer option of paying up in full.
“They caught us at
the weakest possible time,” Gikas Hardouvelis, a senior economic
adviser to Papademos told the New York Times. “But it does not prejudice
future judgments on this matter.” | 
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