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Skepticism from the bondholders
La Nacion
March 24, 2010

Their representative, Nicola Stock, said that the Italian creditors still don't know if they will accept

ROME(From our correspondent).- When finding out that Argentina had presented the new swap offer to CONSOB, Nicola Stock, president of Task Force Argentina (TFA) a dependent association of the Italian Banking Association reacted with his habitual skepticism.

"Argentina sent the proposal to CONSOB and to some press agencies, but I have nothing concrete about which to comment But yes, if the offer is lightly worse than the one from 2005, as Boudou said and also Lorenzino had told me, I think it's very difficult for our creditors to accept it," Stock told LA NACION.

Representing some 180,000 investors that still hold US$4.5 billion in "tango bonds", Stock warned that he will continue following through with the case that TFA initiated against Argentina at the ICSID (International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes), the tribunal of the World Court.

"Not knowing the terms of the offer, we hope to examine the information to put out a technical, professional and transparent opinion. Meanwhile, our lawyers are preparing for the final hearing on the jurisdictional phase of the arbitration before the ICSID, which will take place in Washington in the first 10 days of April", he said.

"Once the phase on jurisdiction ends, which I hope will be favorable for us, the third and final phase must take place, on the merits, in which Argentina will be ordered to pay "x", which is to say, the amount that the arbitration college will stipulate. We are asking for 100% plus interest, but it's clear that the ICSID will be able to choose something different," he added.

Stock said that, as the SEC had done at its time, the CONSOB also could ask Argentina for details about its economic data, slowing down the operation. "It's notorious that the INDEC data is false, as one can read in the Argentine press," he said.

Less pessimistic was the Consumers' Movement, which stated that the new swap "could be the last useful train to avoid Argentina's obligations becoming worthless pieces of paper." This group called on bondholders to attentively evaluate the offer that would come, and recalled that accepting it doesn't impede lawsuits against the banks that sold them the "tango bonds", which in many cases were ordered to make restitution to harmed investors.

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