Country likely to organize roadshow for first week of April Argentina to sell about $12 billion to pay for debt settlement

• Country likely to organize roadshow for first week of April
• Argentina to sell about $12 billion to pay for debt settlement

Argentina has hired seven banks to manage its first international bond sale since defaulting on $95 billion in 2001, said people with knowledge of the offering.

The South American nation hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG, Banco Santander SA and HSBC Holdings Plc as global coordinators and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, UBS Group AG and Citigroup Inc. as bookrunners, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. The roles may still be in flux, they said. The country may begin marketing the bonds in the first week of April, said one of the people.

Argentina plans to issue about $12 billion next month to pay for settlements that it reached with creditors led by billionaire Paul Singer. The decade-long legal battle has kept the country locked out of overseas debt markets. The seven banks said to be involved in the sale loaned Argentina $5 billion at the end of January to bolster the country’s depleted reserves ahead of talks with the creditors.

The country is looking to issue three bonds with maturities of five, 10 and 30 years in mid-April, close to the April 14 deadline for it to make good on payments to creditors, Finance Secretary Luis Caputo told the lower house of Congress on March 4. Lawmakers in Argentina’s lower house of Congress voted March 16 to repealdebt laws that prevent the government from paying creditors and the laws are being debated by the senate this week for final approval.

A Finance Ministry official declined to comment.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/argentina-said-to-hire-seven-banks-to-handle-global-bond-offer-im2m4k6y