Greece is looking to top up offers already received in its bond buy back scheme today taking tenders to Eur 30 bln from the the currently received Eur 25-27 bln according to an anonymous senior government official
Athens plans to buy back bonds with a face value of about 30 billion euros at deeply discounted prices to lower its debt load. A deadline for bondholders to submit offers expired on Friday. A Greek government official said on Saturday that Athens had received offers of about that sum.
The officials’ comments confirm a report earlier on Sunday by television station Mega, which said that Athens was very close to hitting the 30-billion euro mark and that it might renew the invitation for a short period to collect additional bids from Greek banks on standby to provide them.
By Friday Greece received offers for at least 15-16 billion euros from foreign investors and about 10-11 billion from Greek banks, Mega said.
Greek banks, which hold about 17 billion euros of bonds, said on Friday they would participate in the deal but did not reveal how many of their bonds they were willing to exchange. Their boards authorized management on Friday to offer up to 100 percent of lenders’ bondholdings.
The buyback accounts for about half of a 40-billion euro EU/IMF debt relief package for Athens agreed in November. Its success will ensure that the IMF, which contributes about a third of Greece’s bailout loans, will stay on board of the rescue.
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