ATHENS (Dow Jones)--The Greek government will announce early Friday the results of investors' participation in the country's ambitious debt restructuring plan, known as the Public Sector Initiative, or PSI, a person close to the finance ministry said Thursday.
An announcement will be published Friday morning at 0600 GMT on the official government website for the exchange [www.greekbonds.gr].
The deadline of bids, which is Thursday at 2200 GMT, comes after several days during which various banks have declared their willingness to participate, boosting optimism in markets that the deal will go ahead as planned.
Late Wednesday, about 52% of the EUR206 billion ($270.9 billion) in bonds up for restructuring had been pledged.
Portuguese and U.K. banks, as well as Italian insurance companies added their names to the list of holders agreeing to the swap, as did Greek pension funds holding EUR19 billion of Greek debt.
Thirty-two investors in a group known as the Private Creditor-Investor Committee for Greece have signed up to the swap.
The deal replaces existing bonds with a package of new securities with long maturities and less than half the face value. Completion of the swap is needed if the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are to provide EUR130 billion in new loans to Greece, enabling it to avoid defaulting on its remaining debts.
-By Nektaria Stamouli, Dow Jones Newswires; +30 210 373 1775;
nektaria.stamouli@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 08, 2012 04:09 ET (09:09 GMT)