ETEVOB v. Republic of Argentina

471 F. Supp. 2d 432, 2007 WL 102094
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided January 16, 2007·No. 03 Civ. 1680(TPG)·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

471 F.Supp.2d 432 (2007)

Susan ETEVOB et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA and The Province of Buenos Aires, Defendants.

No. 03 Civ. 1680(TPG).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

January 16, 2007.

*433 Joel A. Chernov, Marc S. Dreier, Drier & Baritz L.L.P., New York, NY, for plaintiffs.

Carmine D. Boccuzzi, JR., Jonathan I. Blackman, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP(NYC), New York, NY, for Republic of Argentina.

Jonathan I. Blackman, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP(NYC), New York, NY, for Province of Buenos Aires.

AMENDED OPINION

GRIESA, District Judge.

Plaintiffs are the beneficial owners of certain bond indebtedness issued by defendants The Republic of Argentina and The Province of Buenos Aires (hereinafter referred to jointly as the "Republic"). The Republic defaulted on such indebtedness in December 2001 during a profound fiscal crisis. Plaintiffs are suing to recover amounts due to them as a result of the. default and have moved for summary judgment.

The motions are granted.

FACTS

The bond indebtedness at issue is governed by one of four agreements: (1) a Fiscal Agency Agreement dated October 19, 1994 (the "1994 FAA"), (2) a Fiscal Agency Agreement dated December 10, 1993 (the "1993 FAA"), (3) a Floating Rate and Bond Exchange Agreement dated December 6, 1992 (the "FRB Agreement"), and (4) an Indenture dated July 8, 1998 (the "1998 Indenture"). The 1994 FAA is the same agreement that governed the bond indebtedness on which this court granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in Lightwater Corporation Ltd. v. Republic of Argentina, No. 02 Civ. 3804, 2003 WL 1878420 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2003). Section 22 of the 1994 FAA, Section 20 of the 1993 FAA, Section 6.07 of the FRB Agreement and Section 113(c) of the Indenture state that the Republic waives sovereign immunity and consents to jurisdiction in any state or federal court in the borough of Manhattan in the City of New York. All four agreements provide that the Republic's obligations on the bonds are unconditional and that failure to make any payment of principal or interest for 30 days after the applicable payment date constitutes an event of default. A declaration by the Republic of a moratorium on the payment of principal or interest on its public external indebtedness is an event of default as well. Paragraph 12 of the 1994 FAA provides for acceleration of principal if there is a failure to pay interest or a moratorium. If either of these events occurs,

each holder of Securities and such Series may by such notice in writing declare the principal amount of Securities of such Series held by it to be due and payable immediately. . . .

The 1993 FAA contains similar language.

*434 The FRB Agreement and the 1998 Indenture both permit acceleration of principal only by holders of at least 25% in aggregate of the outstanding principal amount of the bonds under each agreement.

On December 24, 2001 the Republic declared a moratorium on payments of principal and interest on the external debt of the Republic. The court refers to its previous opinions for a description of the circumstances of these defaults. Lightwater, 2003 WL 1878420, at *2; Applestein v. Province of Buenos Aires, No. 02 Civ. 1773, 2003 WL 1990206, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 29, 2003). On June 10, 2003, plaintiffs sent notices to Bankers Trust Company, the Fiscal Agent of The Republic of Argentina, declaring the principal amounts of the debt securities governed by the 1994 FAA and 1993 FAA held by each plaintiff to be immediately due and payable.

The bonds that are the subject of this action are listed hereafter. Also listed are the amounts of the beneficial interests owned by each plaintiff.[1]

The following tables contain the necessary identifying information regarding each plaintiffs beneficial interests in bonds.

Table 1.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Plaintiff Bond Holder or         Marland International,
Beneficial Owner:                S.A.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Face Value:                      U.S. $ 45,000.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
CUSIP No., ISIN No.,             CUSIP No. 040114AZ3;
BB No.:                          ISIN No. US04114AZ32
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date Of Issuance:                December 4, 1998.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date Of Maturity:                December 4, 2005.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Interest Rate/Payable:           11 %
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date Of Purchase:                On or about November 14,
                                 2002.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Acceleration:                    Notice sent June 10, 2003.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Contract Documents:              FAA dated October 19,
(FAA; FRB; Indenture;            1994.
Offering Prospectus;
Certificates, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Evidence of Ownership            Account statement from
Proffered:                       Wachovia Securities
(Account Statements;             dated October 31, 2003.
Letters; Notarized
Statements, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------

Table 2.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Plaintiff Bond Holder or         Marland International,
Beneficial Owner:                S.A.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Face Value:                      U.S. $ 400,000.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
CUSIP No., ISIN No.,             CUSIP No. 040114AN0;
BB No.:                          ISIN No. US040114AN02
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date Of Issuance:                September 10, 1996.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date Of Maturity:                September 10, 2006.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Interest Rate/Payable:           11 %
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date Of Purchase:                On or about November 14,
                                 2002.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Acceleration:                    Notice sent June 10, 2003.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Contract Documents:              FAA dated October 19,
(FAA; FRB; Indenture; 1994.
Offering Prospectus;
Certificates, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Evidence of Ownership            Account statement from
Proffered:                       Wachovia Securities
(Account. Statements;            dated October 31, 2003.
Letters; Notarized
Statements, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------

Table 3. *435

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Plaintiff Bond Holder or         Marland International,
Beneficial Owner:                S.A.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Face Value:                      U.S. 

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ETEVOB v. Republic of Argentina, 471 F. Supp. 2d 432, 2007 WL 102094 (S.D.N.Y. 2007).

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