UNIAN
The largest creditors of Ukraine have formed a bloc and hired Blackstone financial advisers to prepare for restructuring talks with Kyiv, according to the Financial Times, which noted that as a creditor itself, Russia could try to block any deal to restructure Ukraine’s debts.
The group of creditors controls together about 50% of the country’s international bonds. The bondholder bloc led by asset manager Franklin Templeton owns $7 billion of Ukrainian debt.
The publication notes that Russia, as a holder of $3 billion in Eurobonds issued as part of a bailout for the pro-Moscow government that was ousted last year, could bloc the negotiations on debt restructuring.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Finance Minister Natalia Jaresko said that on March 13 the Ukrainian government began consultations with the holders of the sovereign debt. She said the negotiations may last several months, at least until May, and the amount of debt restructuring is about $15 billion. The total amount of the arrears is estimated to be around $17 billion. The amount of debt that Ukraine must pay in 2015 is $11 billion, and the total amount of debt is about $ 70 billion.
The Ministry of Finance announced for the first time plans on sovereign debt restructuring when discussing a new lending program with the International Monetary Fund. On March 11, the IMF approved a four-year program for Ukraine worth of $17.5 billion. The first tranche in the amount of $5 billion was received on March 13.