Venezuelan Debt Now Has the Vultures Circling<br />With the country’s political and social disarray, United States sanctions, and recent demands from the government of President Nicolás Maduro<br />that bond investors agree to a debt deal, Venezuelan bonds have plunged in price from over 30 cents to the low 20s.<br />“If you look at the behavior of distressed investors, they wait for the price to hit a<br />certain threshold” — usually 20 cents on the dollar — “and we have now reached that.”<br />Developments have moved quickly in recent weeks, with a call to restructure, missed interest payments, a default on a power company’s bonds<br />and an inconclusive meeting with investors on Monday.<br />The country’s foreign-exchange reserves have fallen below $10 billion — a level economists say comes close to insolvency —<br />and experts say striking a debt deal will not be easy, especially with an unpopular government and dueling legislatures.
