By Clifford Hwang

An injunction in 2012 barred Argentina, after it defaulted on $100 billion in 2001, from accessing the international finance markets until the country paid its creditors, including those who had rejected the restructuring deals. Now after the Second Circuit, on April 13, affirmed the district court’s February 19 decision to lift the injunction, Argentina will be able to access the global market.  Argentina is expected to raise funds in $15 billion bond offering, a large portion of which will be used to pay creditors with which it has reached a settlement.   

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April 19, 2016

By Victoria Hines

A WTO panel released its decision last week on the dispute between Argentina and the EU over the EU’s duties on Argentine biodiesel. The panel found that the duties exceeded the dumping margins deemed as appropriate in the WTO rules. In May 2013, Brussels imposed anti-dumping duties. Argentina’s Foreign Trade Ministry argued that these measures cost the country approximately $1.6 billion in annual biodiesel sales. The panel reasoned that the EU violated WTO rules by “failing to calculate production costs on the basis of company records.” Argentina and the EU have 60 days from the report’s release to appeal.

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April 15, 2016

By Evan Abrams

The recent Argentine debt crisis, brought on by a series of court decisions requiring the country to pay holdouts from earlier restructurings, has made waves in sovereign debt markets and prompted a rethink of the legal terms behind debt issuances. Mexico, who has historically been a leader in innovative debt offerings, made news last week by changing several key legal provisions on the bonds it offers. According to the Financial Times, the changes were aimed at easing potential restructuring deals and discouraging holdouts. Experts agree that many other emerging market countries are likely to follow suit and adopt similar language going forward.

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November 26, 2014

By Evan Abrams

The global financial crisis of 2007-08 may have begun in the private sector, but it quickly spread to the public sector as well, with countries like Greece, Portugal, and Italy making headlines for months. The crisis exposed these countries’ inability to finance their debt and left the specter of a Eurozone breakup battering financial markets across the world. Argentina has also made news of late due to its long running legal battle with so called “vulture funds.” The situation with Argentina is not that they are unable to pay their debts, but that they are unwilling to reward holdouts from an earlier restructuring after its 2001 default. These holdouts claim they are simply trying to recover what they are contractually owed. However, developing countries view such recalcitrant creditors as taking advantage of economic crises and undermining nations’ recovery efforts in the wake of financial turmoil.

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November 07, 2014

By Ena Cefo

U.S. investors, headed by hedge funds NML and Aurelius Capital Management, are suing Argentina in U.S. courts for full payment on their Argentine government bonds totaling US$1.3 billion. The investors bought Argentine bonds for low prices after Argentina’s 2001 default, when the bonds were at a dramatic low. Argentina defaulted on its debt after the investors rejected a widely accepted bond restructuring agreement. The UN Human Rights Council’s resolution condemned the activities of the so called “vulture funds” and warned against the effect of payments to such “vulture funds” on the deterioration of human rights conditions in South American countries such as Argentina.

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October 27, 2014

By Evan Abrams

It has been a rough year for the Argentine economy and more bad news may be on the horizon. The nation has been scrambling to avoid default after adverse U.S. court rulings required Argentina to pay bondholders who have refused to agree to previous restructurings. Argentina’s congress has passed new legislation in an attempt to circumvent U.S. law, however the Associated Press is reporting that the law may face serious implementation challenges. Analysts assert that the law lacks clarity and fails to resolve all of the legal issues facing bondholders.  

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September 17, 2014

By Rick Mendenhall

Over Argentina’s eight-year Dirty War, the country’s Military Junta “disappeared” up to thirty thousand of its students, journalists, political dissidents and activists. This Thursday, September 18, 2014, Argentina’s current Minister of Defense will discuss the legacy of this terror at Washington College of Law. Other topics will include current human rights initiatives and transitional justice.

As NPR recently chronicled, the terror from the Dirty War endures for families that the military cleaved apart. The Junta would slaughter captive mothers and deliver their newborn babes to military families to raise. Today, surviving grandmothers seek their stolen grandchildren.  

Although the specifics of Minister Rossi’s lecture are unclear, the talk should be worth attending.

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September 16, 2014

By Julie Inglese

Argentinian plaintiffs have sued a German corporation based on events that allegedly occurred in Argentina more than 30 years ago. In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands were killed, kidnapped, or "disappeared," including trade unionists, journalists, and intellectuals in Argentina in what has become known as the dirty war. The plaintiffs say, "the kidnapping, detention and torture of these plaintiffs were carried out by state security forces acting under the direction of and with material assistance" from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Gonzalez-Catan, near Buenos Aires. The Ninth Circuit allowed this case to be tried in California, but some Supreme Court Justices seem skeptical that the case belongs in the United States. 

Find out more on the granting of certiorari at Fox News.

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October 17, 2013

By Joe Vladeck

The legal battle between the Republic of Argentina and hedge fund Elliott Associates (a.k.a. NML Capital, Ltd.) appears to be headed to the Supreme Court.  The long and hard-fought dispute is set for yet another round following the Second Circuit's recent refusal to strike down an injunction that, in short, would prevent Argentina from continuing to pay bondholders who agreed to a 2005 restructuring agreement unless Argentina also agreed to pay a small group of holdout bondholders.  Check out Credit Slips' exhaustive coverage of the case to get caught up.

The injunction and the Second Circuit's ruling, which Reuters columnist Felix Salmon characterized as pinched, pedantic, and poltroonish, have the potential to dramatically shift the balance of power in the global sovereign debt markets.  Bondholders who agreed to Argentina's restructuring plan face the prospect of not getting paid, and payment system participants may be found liable for facilitating Argentina's selective bond payments. The strategy of the holdouts is close to vindication.  For the time being, the Second Circuit stayed enforcement of the injunction so that the Supreme Court can consider Argentina's petition for a writ of certiorari.  Absent further action from the Supreme Court, the forecast for sovereign debt restructuring looks cloudy. 

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September 16, 2013