Greek Debt Swap at 95% After Bondholders Forced to Join

09-Mar (Bloomberg) — Greece pushed through the biggest sovereign restructuring in history after cajoling private investors to forgive more than 100 billion euros ($132 billion) of debt, opening the way for a second bailout.

Euro-region finance ministers agreed on a conference call that the swap meant Greece had met the terms to proceed with a 130 billion-euro rescue package designed to prevent a collapse of the Greek economy. Ministers freed up 35.5 billion euros in public sweeteners and interest now, with a decision on the balance to be made at a March 12 meeting in Brussels.

“It would be a big mistake to think we are out of the woods,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters in Berlin after the call today. “We have a chance of making it. And we have to seize that opportunity.”

…Investors with 95.7 percent of Greece’s privately held bonds will participate in the swap after so-called collective action clauses are triggered, the Finance Ministry said.

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