Advantage, Argentina.
President Cristina Kirchner appears to have gained the upper hand in her long-running dispute with billionaire Paul Singer by moving late Tuesday to swap the country’s US bonds with local paper, experts told The Post.
The offer could be a nightmare scenario for Singer, who is trying to collect on some $3 billion in defaulted bonds the country owes him.
Kirchner, calling Singer and other holdout bondholders “vultures,” has sworn never to pay the group. In fact, last month, Argentina defaulted on some $15 billion in paper rather than pay Singer.
Now, after settlement talks failed, she has hit upon a possible way around paying Singer — while giving exchange bondholders a way to get paid.
The catch is that Manhattan Judge Thomas Griesa has bound advisers and intermediaries from “aiding and abetting” violations of his order requiring Argentina pay Singer when it pays the exchange bondholders. In June, Griesa specifically prohibited Argentina from carrying out a debt exchange.
But it’s uncertain whether Griesa can stop investors from swapping their bonds and getting new ones.
“If you receive the money in Argentina, it’s yours,” said Diego Ferra of Greylock Capital in New York. “I don’t know how they can say you can’t bring it back to New York.”
Argentina said it also will offer holdout bondholders who did not agree to earlier exchanges an opportunity to swap into the new bonds.
“Mr. Singer can come here and show up at the counter and receive payment, obtaining a 300 percent profit,” Axel Kicillof, the country’s brash economy minister said.
Singer did not respond to a request for comment, but fellow holdout Aurelius Capital said “Argentina’s leaders have literally chosen to be outlaws.”