<
(Updates with comments from Korean official, banking sources)
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - South Korean delegates continued to work on a debt swapping deal with international bankers Tuesday, and it remained unclear when a deal might be reached, a senior Korean official said.
Banking sources, meanwhile, said the two sides continued to haggle over the interest rates Korea would pay on short-term loans whose maturities the banks would extend.
''We still have a few things to work out,'' Chung Duck Koo, deputy minister at Seoul's Ministry of Finance and Economy, told reporters during a break in meetings at the headquarters of law firm Shearman & Sterling.
He spoke in Korean and his comments were translated.
''I can't say whether it will be over by tomorrow (Thursday),'' Chung said, adding the group was still discussing prices. ''The most important issue is the interest rate,'' Chung added.
A banking source said the banks ''have reached their limit'' in terms of how flexible they can be on the pricing, and added ''the Koreans now need to come to us.''
A representative group of international creditors and South Korean officials have been negotiating since Christmas to find ways to convert much of South Korea's foreign currency debt into government-backed loans with maturities ranging between one and three years, sources have said.
Earlier Wednesday, a source close to the talks said the South Korean delegates would consider the talks ''a success'' if they resulted an extension of $15 billion, or half of the debt maturing this year. That would leave Seoul to raise another $15 billion or so through a large bond offering or syndicated loan, the source told Reuters in an interview. The Koreans were reportedly seeking rates much lower than 400 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the rate that sources said was part of a debt extension offer from French Bank Societe Generale last week. Last week another senior South Korean official told the Wall Street Journal that his government would be willing to guarantee loans of up to $20 billion. Sources have estimated that some $30 billion in debt will come due this year.
<
KF is enjoying nice ride up for last 2 weeks w/ slight dip on the way up. I just got in after new year and hope to stay long on this one. |
