…Argentina has deposited a payment of $539 million with Bank of New York Mellon (“BNYM”), which is the indenture trustee for some of the Exchange Bonds, to be paid to holders of Exchange Bonds. Plaintiffs have contacted BNYM to remind it of its obligations under this Court’s orders and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65…

Your move, Argentina

Joseph Cotterill Author alerts | Jun 26 17:40 | 7 comments | Share

Part of the PARI PASSU SAGA SERIES

Judge Griesa has denied Argentina’s request to stay the pari passu order beyond June 30 (below).

Argentina has said that it’s deposited enough money to pay the restructured bonds on that date.

No pressure on those negotiations in New York. Note how Judge Griesa goes out of his way to note that the injunction is not in force into effect unless Argentina makes a payment on the restructured debt. Meanwhile Argentina also goes out of its way to say that its deposit is in line with the contract of the exchange bonds — potentially a get-out for it if the rest of the payment system refuses, or is blocked from, extending the funds?

Update – NML’s response is ferocious (and also apparently not run through spell-check):

…Argentina has deposited a payment of $539 million with Bank of New York Mellon (“BNYM”), which is the indenture trustee for some of the Exchange Bonds, to be paid to holders of Exchange Bonds. Plaintiffs have contacted BNYM to remind it of its obligations under this Court’s orders and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65…

We ask your Honor to convene a hearing as soon as is practicable to address this violation of this Court’s order. Argentina should be made to show cause why it should not be in contempt.

Thus as Bloomberg reports — Bank of New York is now in the hot seat.

PARI PASSU SAGA SERIES

The "trial of the century" in sovereign debt restructuring, in our humble opinion. The story of Argentina, its holdout creditors, the grande finale (or is it?) of their battle in US courts.