Venezuela international bondholders hire legal advisors for restructuring

LONDON (Reuters) – A group of investors holding international bonds issued by Venezuela’s government and some of its state-owned entities have hired Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as their legal advisors for a future restructuring, according to a statement.

Venezuela defaulted on international debt in 2017, with the government and state oil company PDVSA alone owing some $60 billion.

Core members of the Venezuela Creditor Committee (VCC) that will take part in the restructuring include asset managers Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC, Greylock Capital, Mangart Capital, T Rowe Price Associates, Inc and Fidelity Investments, the group said in an statement emailed on Tuesday.

Members of the group hold bonds issued by the government itself but also state-oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and state-power firm Corporación Eléctrica Nacional.

There are also potential repayments of more than $10 billion for past expropriations. Many of the bonds are trading at pennies on the dollar after a default in 2017.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker, editing by Libby George)