Jamaica Debt Exchange Reaches 99%

Investor participation in Jamaica’s JAD700bn ($7.7bn) debt exchange (JDX) has reached 99.2% on February 24, the settlement date for the transaction, says Peter Moses, Jamaica country officer at Citi, which is managing the process. He adds that 100% of the institutional investors involved, including local pension plans, insurance companies, banks and large corporations, participated. “One of the most pleasing aspects of the exchange is that the high-level participation speaks of the lack of capital flight,” Moses tells LatinFinance, adding that there is still a process in place to get the remaining 0.8% of investors, mostly individual investors, on board. He claims the JDX will allow average interest rates on Jamaica’s debt to drop to between 11%-13% from an average of 19%, creating savings of JAD42bn. Citi declines to specify how or if the sovereign’s average debt maturity has improved as a result of the exchange.