The plaintiff are default creditors, the court location is in the U.S., and the party being sued is an entire country, Argentina. After decades of lawsuits, the concerned parties may finally end their dispute and reach a settlement worth $5 billion.
According to the Buenos Aires Herald, the statement was made by Matthew McGill, a representative of the plaintiffs holdout creditors, Elliot Management and Aurelius Capital Management, during a hearing made in a U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan. McGill said, "We have had an agreement on economic terms with Argentina since Thursday." He alluded that the settlement might reach $5 billion, but would take a few more days to finalize.
Reuters gives more details about the case. Argentina's legal battle with both creditors had been ongoing for more than a decade. These investors had repeatedly declined or rejected Argentina's efforts to settle, including two debt restructuring proposals in 2005 and 2010, as well as a payment of $6.5 billion.
Reuters adds that the litigation's end would mean "a historic step" for Argentina. The appeals court had already lifted some of the sanctions made in behalf of the creditors, in order to enable the economically embattled country to continue with some of its debt payments.
According to the Guardian, there had been very little comment from any of the parties aside from McGill, who added that, "Given a ltitle more time, we can finish the deal." A representative from the Argentinian economic ministry declined to make a comment. So did the spokesman of Aurelius president Mark Brodsky. Elliot Management representatives did not return calls from journalists immediately.
There seems to be no visible effect of the announcement of the settlement on the Argentinian stock market. The Guardian opines that this relative stability is a result of the investors' anticipation that the deal would come through.
