–IIF Makes Clear There Is No Agreement So Far

BRUSSELS (MNI) – Eurozone leaders are mulling a compromise
agreement under which private creditors would write off 100 billion
euros of their Greek debt holdings, EU officials said.

Over the past few hours, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
president Nicolas Sarkozy held direct talks with representatives of the
Institute of International Finance, which is negotiating on behalf of
the largest private Greek bondholders, trying to put hard numbers on the
final Eurozone summit communique that is expected later this evening.

However, the IIF has made clear that it intends to drive a hard
bargain on behalf of its constituents. They put out a statement just
moments ago in which they made clear that significant sticking points
remain.

“There has been no agreement on any Greek deal or a specific
haircut,” the IIF said. It said it remains “open to a dialogue in search
of a voluntary agreement,” but added that “there is no agreement on any
element of a deal.”

The idea behind the plan of the Eurozone leaders is to incorporate
a German proposal to reduce Greece’s debt ratio to 120% of GDP by 2020.
This figure was quoted by Gernany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in a
statement to the Bundestag earlier today.

That would mean a haircut of slightly more than 50% on privately
held Greek debt and would represent a compromise since the banks have
insisted on a 42% haircut while Germany, along with the IMF, had been
pushing for a writedown in excess of 60%.

The same officials said that negotiations had reached a dead end
this afternoon, but the pressure to get an explicit agreement forced the
German chancellor to back down from her initial stance. It is not clear,
however, whether the IIF is prepared to move yet.

The negotiations are complicated because the size of the private
sector hit on Greece is directly linked with the talks on enhancing the
financial capability of Europe’s bailout fund, the EFSF, another one of
the main topics being discussed at tonight’s summit.

A senior Greek official said that about an hour ago, Finance
Minister Evangelos Venizelos had a teleconference with members of the
governmental committee and briefed them about the ongoing talks.
Venizelos also has briefed the president of the Hellenic Republic twice
so far.

Venizelos also told the Greek ministers to stand by for another
tele-briefing shortly.

The Greek official said he was “cautiously optimistic” the
agreement gain traction, since it would also provide a re-capitalization
plan for the Greek banks. It would also involve tighter inspections by
the EC-ECB-IMF troika and Task Force officials of the Greek budget and
of spending by each ministry and state organization.

The official said the recapitalization plan for Greek banks would
be included in tonight’s final communique.

He said the subject leveraging the EFSF and the IMF’s participation
in it will also be included in the communique, and that details would be
finalized at the Eurogroup meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in
November.

Finally, it seems that the Eurozone governments have backed down
and will provide some form of guarantees on new Greek bonds issued in
any debt exchange with private sector creditors.

–Angelika Papamiltiadou, a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com

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