Creditors accept Hipotecario's US$1.2bn debt swap offer

Argentine bank Hipotecario has surpassed the minimum 90% acceptance rate for its US$1.2bn debt swap offer to creditors and will therefore proceed with the transaction, the bank said in a statement. Hipotecario was forced to default on its bonds in August last year amid the country's economic and financial crisis. The bank launched the bond swap offer in September this year to seek to exit its default status. In the statement, the bank also announced it had extended the offer's acceptance period to December 18 in an attempt to get additional creditors onboard. Given the success of the offer, Hipotecario should be able to have its default status lifted in March or April next year, managing director Rafael Ber at local consultancy Argentine Research told BNamericas. But the bank is not likely to regain access to international capital markets as long as the Argentine government remains in default, he added.