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Pricing Sovereign Debt
In the Greek restructuring of 2012, bonds under local law suffered NPV haircuts in the range of 60-75%, whereas those under foreign law were paid in full, suggesting a value to investors of owning bonds under foreign parameters. This paper investigates the pricing impact of that local v. foreign dichotomy on the three key parameters of every sovereign bond: law, listing and currency. In contrast to the Greek example, we find that many sovereigns are able to issue bonds under local parameters at relatively low interest rates. But our results suggest that this ability is a function of the credibility of the issuing country.