Greece has cleared a major hurdle in its race to avoid bankruptcy by persuading the vast majority of its private creditors to sign up to the biggest national debt writedown in history, paving the way for a second massive bailout.
Following weeks of intense discussions, the Greek government said today that 83.5% of private investors holding its government bonds were participating in a bond swap. Of the investors holding the 177 billion euro in bonds governed by Greek law, 85.8% joined.
"We have achieved an exceptional success... and I believe everyone will soon realise that this is the only way to keep the country on its feet and give it a second historic chance that it needs," finance minister Evangelos Venizelos told the Greek parliament.
He said he would recommend the activation of legislation known as "collective action clauses" to force bondholders who refused to sign up into the swap. The issue was to be discussed at a Cabinet meeting this afternoon.
"A window of opportunity is opening" with the success of the deal to reduce the country's 368 billion euro debt by 105 billion euro, or about 50 percentage points of gross domestic ...
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