Greece extended a debt buyback invitation that forms part of its international bailout for a day and a half to try to get more offers from bondholders, its debt agency (PDMA) said today.
In an offer that had been due to end on Friday, Athens aimed to buy back bonds with a face value of about €30 billion at deeply discounted prices.
That would lower its debt load to make it more manageable, and meet a condition demanded by its lenders for the release of its next aid tranche of €34.4 billion later this month.
A senior Greek banker who spoke on condition of anonymity said Athens aimed to get another €3 to €4 billion worth of bonds offered for exchange.
"This will be easily covered by Greek banks, if foreign bondholders do not offer more," the banker told Reuters.
Newspaper Ta Nea reported today that Greece had received €26-27 billion in offers.
The PDMA said it had extended the offer until noon tomorrow.
Greek banks and insurers had offered about €10 billion of bonds out of their total holdings of about €17 billion, the banker said.
Shortly before the Friday deadline expired, Greek banks got board approval to offer as much as 100 per cent of their bondholdings to make the buyback work.
Reuters
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