London’s Court of Appeal has ruled that Argentina must pay a deposit of €310m ($337m) before a full appeal can be heard in a court case brought by hedge funds seeking $1.5bn in compensation over losses incurred in the country’s growth-linked securities, according to a report by Bloomberg.
In a ruling on Thursday, a judge gave the South American country until 5 April to deposit the money in a trustee account ahead of the appeal hearing against a lower court ruling in favour of a group of hedge funds including Palladian Partners.
At the root of the case is the country’s default on $95bn of debt in 2001 amid one of the worst financial crises in its history. GDP-linked bonds that pay out when the economic expansion reaches a set threshold, were part of a restructuring program.
Argentina subsequently changed the base year for calculating growth in 2013, leading four hedge funds – Palladian, HBK Master Fund, Hirsh Group and Virtual Emerald International –to launch a UK court case in 2019, alleging the change was made to avoid Argentina having to make payments on the bonds.
