June
7, 2004
Venezuela offers buyback of
6-month dollar notes
(Reuters) - "Venezuela offered to
buy back an undisclosed amount of the six-month
dollar notes it sold earlier this year as part
of a mixed issue of dollar- and bolivar-denominated
debt known as investment units, the Finance Ministry
said.
Venezuela in March sold $1 billion of the notes
with a 1.15 percent coupon in two issues as part
of broader efforts to refinance the foreign and
domestic debt of the world's fifth largest oil
exporter. The offer to buy back the notes at 100
percent is open through June 18, the ministry
said in a statement.
Venezuela sold a total $3 billion of the hybrid
debt -- combining one-third dollar notes and two-thirds
bolivar debt -- after domestic investors snapped
up the offer to access hard currency under the
country's strict foreign exchange controls.
Each investment unit has a nominal value of $1,500
with one-third in U.S. currency and two-thirds
in local bolivar bonds. Venezuela started refinancing
its domestic debt in November 2002 with a series
of bond swaps and in August of last year began
a foreign debt refinancing by repurchasing $1.5
billion of its Brady bonds".
