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ARGENTINE BILLIONAIRE EURNEKIAN SEES MARKET RETURN NEAR ELECTION
Business Week / Bloomberg
Sept 24 2014
By Katia Porzecanski and Erik Schatzker
Billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian said he's waiting for Argentine assets
to regain investor favor in the run-up to 2015 elections before taking
several units of his holding company public.
Eurnekian's Corporacion America, which controls interests in airports,
energy, construction, nanotechnology and wines, is in talks with banks
to plan a share sale once values recover, he said. The record $25
billion initial public offering from China's Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd. (BABA:US) last week isn't enough to convince the businessman
that now is the right time.
"Argentina is different," Eurnekian, 81, said yesterday in a
television interview at Bloomberg's New York headquarters. "The
country has enormous resources to be delivered, explored and a lot
of opportunities, and today values are very low."
Video: Argentine Billionaire: Soros May Help Nation Exit Default
Corporacion America is paving the way to sell shares in global markets
by opening a representative office in New York, he said. Argentine
companies are hamstrung because valuations are too low for IPOs while
interest rates are too high to sell debt after the nation defaulted
for the second time in 13 years two months ago, he said.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has 15 months left in office
after she and her late husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner ran
the country since 2003. Argentina's legal dispute with investors
from its 2001 default, which is preventing the nation from making
payments on its overseas bonds, is deepening a recession and spurring
speculation that the debt crisis will have to be resolved by the
next administration.
Presidential Candidates
The three leading candidates to replace Fernandez are in a statistical
tie, according to the latest poll from Management & Fit. Buenos Aires
Province Governor Daniel Scioli, Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio
Macri and lawmaker Sergio Massa are all prepared to lead the country,
Eurnekian said.
"There isn't much difference between the candidates," he said. "They
play with the rules of democracy."
Presidential elections will be held Oct. 25, 2015 and the new
government would take office in December of next year.
A group of investors in Argentina's defaulted bonds from 2001, led by
Elliott Management Corp., won an order for full repayment whenever the
nation makes interest payments on securities issued in 2005 and 2010
debt restructurings. Fernandez has refused to comply with the ruling,
saying that doing so would trigger new claims of $120 billion from
other bondholders.
Soros Talks
Argentine bonds have plunged 12 percent since the nation was blocked
from making a $539 million interest payment on July 30, pushing yields
to 9.6 percent on average.
Eurnekian is interested in helping resolve the dispute and has held
talks with banks and investors to find a private solution. Still,
he's not in a position to lead a resolution, he said.
"I am a positive instrument to do something," he said. "There are
many businesspeople interested in doing something, but somebody --
and not me -- has to lead them."
Billionaire George Soros, who also met with Fernandez in New York on
Sept. 22, may be well positioned to help broker a deal, Eurnekian said.
Soros discussed a "range of topics" with Fernandez including the
prospects for the economy and energy sector, his spokesman said in
an e-mail. Soros more than doubled his stake (YPF:US) in state-run
Argentine energy producer YPF SA (YPF:US) in the second quarter to
become the fourth largest private shareholder. He's also the biggest
shareholder (AGRO:US) of South American agricultural company Adecoagro
SA (AGRO:US), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"He has the financial resources, he has the knowledge," Eurnekian
said. "If it is in his hand to do something, I think he will."
Video: Blackstone's James Sees Slow Europe Growth for 3-5 Years
Eurnekian, whose Armenian immigrant parents owned a textile business,
introduced cable television to Argentina through Cablevision SA and
founded networks including America TV. Today, Corporacion America is
the world's largest private airport operator by number of licenses,
with more than 50, and about $2 billion in annual sales.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-09-23/argentine-billionaire-eurnekian-sees-market-return-near-election
Business Week / Bloomberg
Sept 24 2014
By Katia Porzecanski and Erik Schatzker
Billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian said he's waiting for Argentine assets
to regain investor favor in the run-up to 2015 elections before taking
several units of his holding company public.
Eurnekian's Corporacion America, which controls interests in airports,
energy, construction, nanotechnology and wines, is in talks with banks
to plan a share sale once values recover, he said. The record $25
billion initial public offering from China's Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd. (BABA:US) last week isn't enough to convince the businessman
that now is the right time.
"Argentina is different," Eurnekian, 81, said yesterday in a
television interview at Bloomberg's New York headquarters. "The
country has enormous resources to be delivered, explored and a lot
of opportunities, and today values are very low."
Video: Argentine Billionaire: Soros May Help Nation Exit Default
Corporacion America is paving the way to sell shares in global markets
by opening a representative office in New York, he said. Argentine
companies are hamstrung because valuations are too low for IPOs while
interest rates are too high to sell debt after the nation defaulted
for the second time in 13 years two months ago, he said.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has 15 months left in office
after she and her late husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner ran
the country since 2003. Argentina's legal dispute with investors
from its 2001 default, which is preventing the nation from making
payments on its overseas bonds, is deepening a recession and spurring
speculation that the debt crisis will have to be resolved by the
next administration.
Presidential Candidates
The three leading candidates to replace Fernandez are in a statistical
tie, according to the latest poll from Management & Fit. Buenos Aires
Province Governor Daniel Scioli, Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio
Macri and lawmaker Sergio Massa are all prepared to lead the country,
Eurnekian said.
"There isn't much difference between the candidates," he said. "They
play with the rules of democracy."
Presidential elections will be held Oct. 25, 2015 and the new
government would take office in December of next year.
A group of investors in Argentina's defaulted bonds from 2001, led by
Elliott Management Corp., won an order for full repayment whenever the
nation makes interest payments on securities issued in 2005 and 2010
debt restructurings. Fernandez has refused to comply with the ruling,
saying that doing so would trigger new claims of $120 billion from
other bondholders.
Soros Talks
Argentine bonds have plunged 12 percent since the nation was blocked
from making a $539 million interest payment on July 30, pushing yields
to 9.6 percent on average.
Eurnekian is interested in helping resolve the dispute and has held
talks with banks and investors to find a private solution. Still,
he's not in a position to lead a resolution, he said.
"I am a positive instrument to do something," he said. "There are
many businesspeople interested in doing something, but somebody --
and not me -- has to lead them."
Billionaire George Soros, who also met with Fernandez in New York on
Sept. 22, may be well positioned to help broker a deal, Eurnekian said.
Soros discussed a "range of topics" with Fernandez including the
prospects for the economy and energy sector, his spokesman said in
an e-mail. Soros more than doubled his stake (YPF:US) in state-run
Argentine energy producer YPF SA (YPF:US) in the second quarter to
become the fourth largest private shareholder. He's also the biggest
shareholder (AGRO:US) of South American agricultural company Adecoagro
SA (AGRO:US), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"He has the financial resources, he has the knowledge," Eurnekian
said. "If it is in his hand to do something, I think he will."
Video: Blackstone's James Sees Slow Europe Growth for 3-5 Years
Eurnekian, whose Armenian immigrant parents owned a textile business,
introduced cable television to Argentina through Cablevision SA and
founded networks including America TV. Today, Corporacion America is
the world's largest private airport operator by number of licenses,
with more than 50, and about $2 billion in annual sales.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-09-23/argentine-billionaire-eurnekian-sees-market-return-near-election