Erin McElhone 3rd period: Argentina Reaches Settlement With Hedge Funds, Ending 15-Year Dispute

Argentina has reached an agreement with some of its creditors that should help end a long and acrimonious dispute that has blocked the country from the international bond markets. The deal, which must be approved by Argentina's Congress, calls for the government to pay $4.653 billion to four of the holdout U.S. hedge funds. That is about 75 percent of what they claimed they were owed. Argentina defaulted in 2001 and has been trying to restructure billions of dollars in debt, but a group of hedge funds, led by Paul Singer's Elliott Management, refused to go along and sued that country's government in U.S. federal court.The court battle had lapsed into a bitter political fight, with former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner labeling the holdouts "vulture funds." Meanwhile, Argentina was essentially blocked from borrowing any more money in the bond market. But everything changed after the November election of President Mauricio Macri, who vowed to end the dispute during his campaign. The settlement between Elliott Management and Argentina was announced this morning by Daniel A. Pollack, the special master appointed by the court to oversee settlement talks. The deal does not completely settle Argentina's debt woes, since some smaller bondholders continue to resist restructuring, Ferro says. But they lack Elliott's resources and constitute a smaller threat to the government.

Argentina agreed to pay $4.65 billion to four hedge funds on Monday in a deal that could put an end to a more than a decade of mudslinging and legal attacks. I am glad that their government has figured out a way for this economic problem/conflict to come to an end.

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