Bondholders from Argentina asked a US Judge for more time before lifting injunctions that restrict the country from paying off its debts. Lawyers for a majority of US creditors settling with Argentina over its 15-year debt crisis also wanted the judge to keep orders protecting them in place for at least a month.
Reuters reported that the lawyers asked US District Judge Thomas Griesa to provide more time to formally order the injunctions vacated. The 30-day request would allow the remaining plaintiffs to reach settlements. They also urged the judge to act slowly enough that existing court orders continue to pressure the country to settle with remaining creditors, who represent about 15 percent, or less than $2 billion of the claims which according to previous reports, totaled close to $10 billion.
The amount of the settlement was then released after a decade of litigation initiated by bondholders, including Elliot Management's NML Capital. According to ABC News, Judge Griesa issued orders which ban Argentina from paying interest through US banks to 93 percent of its bondholders. The bondholders agreed to exchange their bonds for new bonds worth between 25 percent and 29 percent of their original value.
In 2012, Judge Griesa favored a ruling with a group of hedge funds, led my NML and Aurelius Capital Management who for years been trying to ask Argentina to pay $1.3 billion in defaulted bonds they hold, reports Business Insider.
Argentina argues that they lost their claim when they refused to join a restructuring of nearly $100 billion in debt they defaulted on in 2001. According to reports, Argentina has been refusing to pay the two hedge funds. The country claims that a $6.2 billion in deals have been reached with creditors who declined its 2005 and 2010 debt restructuring.
The injunctions that were issued prevents Argentina from servicing its restructure debt until it paid the holdout investors.
