Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on successful debt restructuring by the Province of La Rioja, Argentina

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Bank of America as sole solicitation agent in connection with the successful consent solicitation of the Province of La Rioja (the Province) directed to holders of the Province's 9.750% Notes due 2025 (the Notes).

The Province launched a consent solicitation to amend certain terms of the Notes and the indenture governing the Notes (the Proposed Amendments) in August 2021. As of the expiration time of the consent solicitation, holders of the Notes delivered consents for an aggregate principal amount of US$295,815,000, representing approximately 98.61% of the principal amount of Notes outstanding.  As a result, by virtue of the collective action clauses, all Notes were amended on the settlement date upon payment of the consent consideration and execution of a supplemental indenture to give effect to the Proposed Amendments.

The Province (i) issued US$18,427,444 principal amount of Notes and (ii) paid US$24,847,500 in cash, as consent consideration, to Eligible Holders whose consents were accepted by the Province on the settlement date. The aggregate principal amount of Notes outstanding after the settlement date is US$318,427,444.

The Clifford Chance team was led by Capital Markets partner Hugo Triaca in New York. Tax partner Avrohom Gelber, associate Luis Maria Clouet and foreign law clerk Jorge Vázquez Navarro provided support on this transaction.

Clifford Chance advises on many landmark transactions in Argentina. Most notably, the team advised the Argentina Creditor Committee on the historic sovereign debt restructuring by the Republic of Argentina as well as debt restructurings by the City of Córdoba, the Province of Jujuy and the Province of Entre Ríos.