11:54 15.10.2015

Ukraine has restructured all Eurobond issues, except for 'Russian' issue – Yatseniuk

3 min read
Ukraine has restructured all Eurobond issues, except for 'Russian' issue – Yatseniuk

The holders of 13 of the 14 issues of sovereign Eurobonds worth a total of $14.36 billion and 0.6 billion euro guaranteed by the Ukrainian state supported their restructuring at meetings in London on October 14, and no agreement was received, only with regard to the 'Russian' Eurobonds worth $3 billion due to the creditor's absence, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"The Ukrainian creditors made a decision to write off $3 billion and to accept both the write-off and restructuring terms," he told a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

"As was expected, the only country that did not take part in the vote, and it is such an interesting country, it is called the Russian Federation. And [the issue of] the $3 billion that Russia should restructure and also partially write off remained unresolved," the Ukrainian premier said.

Ukraine will once again call on Russia to accept the general restructuring terms at a meeting on October 29, he said.

"If they think that they are unique, we are ready for a judicial examination of the case with the Russian Federation," Yatseniuk said.

More than 75% of the creditors supported the restructuring of the other 13 issues, he said.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, for her part, said that if Russia and other creditors refused to accept the terms for restructuring and partially writing off the debt, they would lose the right to receive state derivatives payments which are tied to the dynamics of Ukraine's GDP.

New bonds replacing the existing ones will be issued in mid-November following the October 29 meeting on the 'Russian' Eurobonds worth $3 billion and maturing on December 25, 2015, that were bought by Russia's National Welfare Fund at the end of 2013, Jaresko said.

It was reported that on August 27 Ukraine announced that it had reached an agreement with the committee of creditors, representing the holders of these Ukrainian bonds worth approximately $9 billion, to restructure Ukraine's foreign commercial debt of around $19.3 billion.

The agreement envisages an immediate write-off of 20% of Ukraine's principal debt, while the deadline for repaying the remaining amount will be postponed by four years - from 2015-2013 to 2019-2027. For these purposes, nine almost equal new issues of dollar-denominated Eurobonds maturing annually in 2019-2027, with an average coupon rate of 7.75%, will be conducted to replace the existing 14 Eurobond issues (11 sovereign Eurobond issues and three Fininpro government-guaranteed issues) and several loans guaranteed by the state (loans to Ukraine's state-run roads operator Ukravtodor, the Pivdenne Design Bureau and Ukrmedsnab) with an average coupon rate of 7.22%. The interests accrued on the existing bonds prior to the set date of issue will be capitalized in the new Eurobonds.

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