Venezuela's Machado Would Restructure Debt into Single Bond

Opposition frontrunner María Corina Machado said she would seek to roll Venezuela’s massive debt pile into a single bond as part of her plan to overhaul the country’s economy. 

Speaking after a video presentation to economists and investors in New York on Tuesday, Machado said if she wins office next year holders of defaulted government and state oil company notes would all be treated equally and given the chance to swap their debt for a new super bond. 

“We want to have one sole obligation with legal conditions in which all different liabilities can come once they are vetted,” she said in a video interview following the event at the headquarters of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. […]

Machado said she favors an “expansive stabilization” of Venezuela’s battered economy through market-friendly policies and privatization of most industries, including the nation’s all-important oil sector. 

Her economic plan includes swapping sovereign debt for ownership or stakes in state-owned enterprises that would be privatized under her tenure. She also said she would reform Venezuela’s existing hydrocarbons law by eliminating ownership restrictions to increase foreign investment in the industry. 

“We want to open Venezuela’s energy sector to attract the most advanced and capitalized companies in the world,” she said.

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