Sovereign Debt

Veil Piercing When a Sovereign Owns the Shares; Venezuela Edition

02/05/17

This is a joint post by Mark Weidemaier and Mitu Gulati.

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Paul Blustein's Laid Low, and Some Musings on the Next Crisis

01/21/17

(This is a joint post by Mark Weidemaier and Mitu Gulati)

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Pari Passu Nevermind

12/27/16

One last (I hope) gift from the pari passu litigation against Argentina: this opinion ruling that Argentina does not breach its pari passu obligations by paying holdouts like NML (who recently settled claims against the country) or by paying bondholders who had previously partici

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Venezuela

09/24/16

John Dizard has a useful, and clearly written, piece on the lay of the land in this morning's FT. What puzzles me is why PDVSA, the national oil company,  has not done a UK scheme of arrangement or a US prepack to exchange the bonds, instead of messing around with an exchange offer. But the entire situation is rather opaque.

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Disarming Holdouts in Sovereign Debt Restructurings

08/24/16

The pari passu litigation against Argentina—discussed extensively here on Credit Slips, on FT Alphaville, and elsewhere—caused many people to worry that future government debt restructurings would become more difficult.

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Further Thoughts on Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust

06/13/16

The opinion is a good reminder that oral argument impressions don't always carry over to the final written product. In short, both the majority and dissent approach this as a simple matter of statutory construction, and in that regard the majority opinion is simply a more clearly articulated version of the First Circuit's opinion.

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Ukraine's Defense: Russian Suit Part of a "Broader Strategy of Aggression"

05/29/16

It has taken several months, but the Russian Particulars of Claim and Ukraine's Defence (akin to complaint and answer in U.S. civil procedure) have now been filed.

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PROMESA and the Recovery Act

05/22/16

It has become something like conventional wisdom that the pending SCOTUS case involving the Recovery Act is no longer relevant. After all, the giant interest payment due July 1 is largely attributable to GO bonds, and the Commonwealth itself is not even subject to the Recovery Act.

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PROMESA observations

05/19/16

After taking a look at titles III and VI of the new draft, some quick observations:

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PROMESA amusement

05/19/16

I'm still working through the new draft of the PROMESA bill, which readers will recall provides new restructuring options for US territories (including Puerto Rico, of course). But I have to say I got a chuckle out of proposed section 303(3), which provides:

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