Greece is planning a 30 billion euros debt swap which will convert 20 existing bonds into 5 (or less) new issues in the next few weeks (although the exact timing remains uncertain). The bonds are expected to have similar maturities to the existing notes from 2023-2042.
According to Bloomberg, the Greek government is planning an unprecedented debt swap worth 29.7 billion euros ($34.5 billion) aimed at boosting the liquidity of its paper and easing the sale of new bonds in the future. Under a project that could be launched in mid-November, the government plans to swap 20 bonds issued after a restructuring of Greek debt held by private investors in 2012 with as many as five new fixed-coupon bonds, according to two senior bankers with knowledge of the swap plan. The bank officials requested anonymity as the plan has yet to be made public.
Markets have responded well to the news as Bloomberg reported.
- Greek 10-Year Yield Drops to Lowest Since July on Debt-Swap Plan
- Greek 5-yr bond yield drops by 10bps to 4.345%, its lowest level since the nation issued the new note in July.
- Demand spurred by optimism that the third bailout review will be completed in time; news that government is planning a debt-swap plan is also boosting sentiment
While we struggle to believe that the Greek debt crisis is anywhere near close to being solved, at least the country seems to have been touched by Europe’s recovery.
Furthermore, the European Council announced on 25 September 2017 that Greece’s finances have stabilised and it was closing the excessive debt procedure. It sounded good anyway...
"After many years of severe difficulties, Greece's finances are in much better shape. Today's decision is therefore welcome", said Toomas Tõniste, minister for finance of Estonia, which currently holds the Council presidency.
"We are now in the last year of the financial support programme, and progress is being made to enable Greece to again raise money on the financial markets at sustainable rates."
From a deficit of 15.1% of GDP reached in 2009, Greece's fiscal balance has steadily improved, turning into a 0.7% of GDP surplus in 2016. Although a small deficit is projected for 2017, the fiscal outlook is expected to improve again thereafter…In the light of this, the Council found that Greece fulfils the conditions for closing the excessive deficit procedure. Greece will now be subject to the preventive arm of the EU's fiscal rulebook, the Stability and Growth Pact. Monitoring will continue until August 2018 under its macroeconomic adjustment programme.
Meanwhile, the planned debt swap is a step in the Greek government’s preparations for August 2018 when, excuse our cynicism, Greece will essentially look to borrow more money to buffer its debt mountain. Bloomberg comments.
“The move aims to address the current illiquidity of the Greek bond market,” according to analysts at Pantelakis Securities SA in Athens.
It will also “establish a decent yield curve, thus facilitating the country’s return to public debt markets.”
The move comes as Greece prepares for life after the end of its current bailout program in August 2018. The debt swap is a step toward the country’s full return to markets required to avoid a new bailout program. The government plans to tap the bond market in 2018 to raise at least 6 billion euros to create an adequate buffer to honor debt obligations, according to a government official…
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in October that tapping markets soon wouldn’t be aimed at getting fresh money so much as to better manage the country’s debt and make its bonds more attractive. The new bonds, following the swap, are expected to have the same value as the old ones and will have a fixed coupon, one of the people with knowledge of the matter said.
Talking of cynicism, Goldman Sachs role in this transaction remains uncertain.
The challenge for Greece is to be in a sufficiently strong financial position to refinance more than 17 billion euros of debt in 2019 as Bloomberg explains, Greece returned to markets in July for the first time since 2014, raising 3 billion euros through new 5-year bonds. Now, with the swap plan, the government wants to ensure it can tap the market for enough funds to refinance its debt obligations in 2019, which originally amounted to 19 billion euros. The government managed to reduce this number by 1.6 billion euros with the July bond issuance.
While the timing of the debt swap transaction is uncertain, the government is aiming to complete it in time for the return of representatives of the country’s creditors in the last week of this month. No doubt they will be overjoyed by what they find.
There's just one thing...