Commercial Creditors Flock to Polish Buy-Back

WARSAW -- Commercial creditors holding more than half of Poland's $13 billion debt committed themselves to a March restructuring deal, paving the way for its implementation, Poland's chief debt negotiator said Tuesday.Krzysztof Krowacki said commitments were still coming in and the number of waivers from creditors for the buy-back option in the deal was approaching 95 percent of debt value -- a threshold needed for the option to go through. "We have had the 50 percent for quite a while and we are approaching the 95 percent" buy-back threshold, Krowacki said. "The deal will definitely go forward as envisaged in the financing proposals." He declined to elaborate on the figures and demand for other options in the deal and said they would be announced next week.Krowacki said creditor interest in the buy-back, at 41 percent for the main part of it and 38 percent for a trade facility, was higher than the 20 percent Poland had said it was prepared for. He declined to give any details but signaled that Poland was prepared to satisfy higher demand for the buy-back. "The interest in the buy-back was higher" than 20 percent, he said, "and as I have always said we will be able to meet the creditors' needs."Krowacki said he and the steering committee of creditor banks, which negotiated the deal, were now working on the legal aspects of its implementation. The deadline for sending the commitments was initially set for June 29 but had to be postponed because many secondary-market debt holders were not familiar with the proposals of the deal and needed more time. "Relatively short time framework and heavy trading in relatively small amounts" on the secondary market prior to the agreement "have lengthened the reconciliation and commitment process," he said.