It Will Meet With Argentina

By Bill FariesMarch 3 (Bloomberg) -- Elliott Management Corp., the $12.8 billion hedge-fund firm founded by Paul Singer, denied a newspaper report that it plans to meet today with Argentine officials over a possible restructuring of bonds the country defaulted on in 2001. “We have not met and have no plans to meet with anyone, but our door is always open,” Elliott, which held about $1 billion of defaulted Argentine debt as of Sept. 30, said in an e-mailed statement. La Nacion newspaper said representatives from Elliott and billionaire investor Kenneth Dart were going to meet with Argentine Cabinet Chief Sergio Massa today to discuss a possible restructuring. Elliott and Dart are among creditors holding about $20 billion of bonds that refused to accept Argentina’s 2005 exchange offer of 30 cents on the dollar, the harshest restructuring terms since at least World War II. A message left by Bloomberg News at the office of lawyers for Dart’s EM Ltd. wasn’t returned. Officials in Massa’s press office didn’t return calls seeking comment. Elliott called Argentina the “poster child of rogue nations” in a Sept. 30 statement after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said she was considering a proposal by Barclays Plc., Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG to settle with the holdout creditors. Slowing Growth, Falling Commodities Fernandez is looking to regain access to international capital markets to meet financing needs that have swelled as commodity exports fell and growth slowed in South America’s second-biggest economy. Argentina has extended maturities on more than 18 billion pesos ($5 billion) of debt this year through two exchanges. The swaps reduced the country’s debt payments by 16.6 billion pesos over the next three years, according to a government official who declined to be identified in accordance with administration policy. Argentina’s defaulted dollar bonds due in 2031 traded at 12.5 cents on the dollar today, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The price has slumped from 29.75 cents in mid-October. To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Faries in Buenos Aires at wfaries@bloomberg.n