Argentina’s Caputo Said to Plan New York Trip to Meet Holdouts

• Bondholders with expired statute of limitation still suing
• Argentina sold $16.5 billion of bonds in April in debt debut

Argentina’s Finance Secretary Luis Caputo will travel to New York in late June to meet some of the country’s remaining holdout creditors from the 2001 default, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The biggest stories of the day, every day.

He will meet fund managers seeking payment on bonds with an expired statute of limitation, a provision that specifies the time-frame under which defaulted bonds can be paid, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The government will discuss the legality of a payment, but will maintain the settlement offer it first made public in February, according to local newspaper Diario BAE, which first reported the trip.

The remaining holdouts are among the last still litigating after the nation reached in February a milestone agreement with holdouts led by billionaire Paul Singer following a legal battle that extended over a decade. The country sold $16.5 billion in its bond debutafter 15 years estranged from markets, using some of the proceeds to pay holders with agreements.

Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said in a presentation in March that Argentina won’t make blanket offers on bonds that have exceeded the statute of limitations or were prescribed, the term used by so-called civil law countries. Argentina’s general exchange offer in February noted that prescribed bonds wouldn’t be accepted, but didn’t specify which bonds fell in that category.

When asked if Caputo would meet holders of defaulted debt, the Finance Ministry’s press office said Caputo and Prat-Gay would travel to New York in late June to participate in investor meetings and speak at an event organized by the Council of the Americas.

The government estimates $350 million of defaulted bonds remain outstanding under New York jurisdiction, according to BAE.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-10/argentina-s-caputo-said-to-travel-to-new-york-to-meet-holdouts