Mozambique: Tuna bond restructuring sparks debt downgrade

Mozambique’s proposal to restructure bonds guaranteed by the state in an original amount of $850m for Mozambican tuna company Ematum has been met with a downgrade from credit rating agencies Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s. International holders of the bond, which include some of the world’s largest investors, are being asked to exchange some $700m of the existing 2020 Ematum bonds for new sovereign bonds due to mature in January 2023. Credit Suisse and a subsidiary of Russian bank VTB, which arranged the sale of the original $850m bond in 2013, have been hired to arrange the restructuring.