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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yard_man who wrote (73694)	3/1/2001 10:29:45 AM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

LOL!!!!!!!!!!

To: yard_man who wrote (73694)	3/1/2001 10:37:38 AM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Respond to of 436258

Here's another con nicely supported by your US tax dollars OPIC DJ Argentina's TGS To Sell $150M In OPIC Guaranteed Bonds 28 Feb 08:16 (This article was originally published Tuesday) BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (TGS), Argentina's leading natural gas processor and transporter, plans to sell $150 million in bonds backed by highly-coveted political risk guarantees from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp., a TGS official said Tuesday. U.S. banks Wachovia (WB), Bank of America (BAC) and BankBoston are managing the sale, which will be marketed mainly to U.S. investors. TGS will meet with bankers on Wednesday in New York and in Buenos Aires to discuss the deal, the official said. He added that the OPIC-guarantee essentially puts TGS on par with a mid-cap energy company in the U.S. selling debt. TGS is no stranger to innovative financing. More than a year ago, the company sold $300 million of 12-year notes in a private placement that was organized by the Inter-American Development Bank. The securities were purchased by mainly U.S. insurance companies. The company is 70%-owned by Compania de Inversiones de Energia SA (CIESA), which is owned by Texas-based Enron Inc. (ENE) and Argentina's Perez Companc SA (PC). TGS operates 7,089 kilometers of gas distribution pipeline and transports on average 58 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. OPIC, a U.S. government agency that promotes and insures U.S. business activities overseas, provides guarantees against loss to units of U.S. companies operating in emerging markets. Its backing of the financial assets issued by those emerging market companies increases their value because investors are protected from possible currency devaluations or other developments that might hurt the value of those assets. Last year, OPIC backed a $175-million bond issue in the U.S. by Argentina's Transportadora de Gas del Norte (TGN). Two of the company's principal shareholders are CMS Energy Corp. of Dearborn, Michigan and TotalFina Elf of France. A TGS finance official said the OPIC guarantee will help the company raise cash at a time when many Argentine companies are facing high borrowing costs. Argentina's interest rates have risen on concerns the South American nation may not be able to trim its 2001 federal budget deficit to $6.5 billion, a target suggested by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for $40 billion in emergency financial assistance. Investors are also concerned that Argentina's failure to revive its sluggish economy, which is almost three years into recession, could mean the government won't have the cash to repay its debts. "When there is an appetite for emerging market debt, the risk guarantee is not that helpful. However, in times of market turbulence, is adds value to paper," the official said. -By Tom Darin Liskey, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4314-2757; tom.liskey@dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 02-28-01 08:16 AM Copyright 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.