Greek Creditor Group Said Near Hiring Blackstone, Law Firms

Bloomberg
December 15, 2011

A steering committee representing global banks and insurers is close to hiring Blackstone Group LP (BX) and two law firms to advise it on debt-swap talks with Greece, according to two people familiar with the matter.

A formal engagement with Blackstone, White & Case LLP and Allen & Overy LLP may be completed as early as this week, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. The steering committee was formed last month by a private creditor-investor group and is conducting negotiations on the voluntary debt swap with Greek and European authorities.

Creditors are working with the advisers to limit their losses in a debt restructuring after already agreeing to accept a 50 percent writedown on the face value of their Greek sovereign holdings. The steering committee, which includes representatives from Axa SA (CS), Commerzbank AG, ING Groep NV and National Bank of Greece SA, is seeking to reach an agreement on the details of a swap in early January, one person said.

“It presumably suggests that they are not accepting a fait accompli,” said Tim Dawson, a Geneva-based banking analyst at Helvea. “You wouldn’t hire these guys if you weren’t trying to reduce your losses.”

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