(Reuters) – Belize has received tender orders on its Sept. 13 purchase offer equal to around 84.38% of the aggregate principal amount of its outstanding dollar bonds due 2034, and it will give bondholders more time to submit orders, the government said on Friday.
“The government of Belize is delighted that the vast majority of holders of the government’s only international bond have indicated their support for this proposed transaction,” Belize’s prime minister, John Briceno, said in a statement https://www.centralbank.org.bz/docs/default-source/7.0-news-advisories/belize—expiration-time-extension-press-release-(september-2021)-4834-2507-9292-v32908eb9088c3664c9e9cff00006477e9.pdf?sfvrsn=5ecb8d35_2.
“We are attempting to achieve, in this one transaction, both significant debt relief and the long-term protection of Belize’s precious marine environment,” he added.
Earlier this month, the Central American country said it had reached a deal with a sizeable portion of its “superbond” holders to restructure the debt, helped by a promise to spend significant amounts of money on marine conservation https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/marine-conservation-promise-helps-belize-strike-superbond-deal-2021-09-03.
Due to the influx of orders it received on its purchase offer, Belize said the super-majority consent condition set out in the Sept. 13 https://www.centralbank.org.bz/docs/default-source/7.0-news-advisories/belize—launch-press-release-4830-0091-4938-v-final.pdf?sfvrsn=98c38d35_2 offer had been satisfied.
Still, it noted the offer and exit amendments set out remain subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions.
To give bondholders who have not yet done so an additional opportunity to make tender orders, the government is extending the expiration time for its offer to Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. New York City time, the government said.
(Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Leslie Adler)
