Argentina admits Libertad is the 29th asset impound case by ‘vulture’ funds

Argentina finally admitted that the retaining of the training frigate ARA Libertad in Ghana is not an isolated case since the so called ‘vulture’ funds have managed to impound a total of 28 assets including the presidential aircraft Tango 01, bank accounts, property and even a satellite.

Minister Timerman pledging Argentina will recover the frigate, “as we recovered the other 28 assets” 

These 28 assets belonging to the Argentine State have been impounded by the vulture funds which refused to join the swap of defaulted sovereign bonds during the presidencies of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, admitted Foreign minister Hector Timerman speaking at Government House, Casa Rosada,

“Until the case of the frigate ARA Libertad, the vulture funds managed to impound 28 assets from the Argentine state”, said Timerman, but in all those cases Argentina managed to recover the disputed assets.

Timerman also announced that the government has decided to litigate in international courts the release of the frigate retained in the port of Tema. Three options are under consideration according to diplomatic sources: the Law of the Sea international tribunal; the International Court of Justice in The Hague or arbitration.

After reading the list of impounded assets (and recovered), Timerman pledged that “we are going to recover ARA Libertad as we recovered all of the other government assets”.

The impounded assets also included the SACD/Aquarius satellite jointly developed by Argentina with NASA and orbiting since last year and patents from scientific research centres involving atomic energy plus agriculture and industrial technology. However all cases, tangible or non tangible, referred to assets in the US or in Europe.

Timerman’s announcement comes after the failed political attempt in Ghana when top officials from the Foreign and Defence ministries were sent to Accra and later with his own non performing lobbying at the United Nations.

Ghana port authorities want ARA Libertad moved to anchorage; Argentina refuses

Ghanaian officials asked a judge Thursday to order the Argentine navy ship detained in the West African nation over a debt dispute to be moved because it was blocking valuable space at the port of Tema.

Ghana's port authority appeared in Accra's commercial court following an October 19 filing asking for the ARA Libertad to be moved to an anchorage, saying the three-masted tall ship was harming commercial activity.

 Tema is Ghana's largest port and sees major traffic from commercial vessels.

“There is congestion at the port and commercial activities are virtually coming to a standstill,” a lawyer for the authority, Asare Darko was quoted by the local media.

“The situation is getting more and more chaotic. You can't put a military vessel in the midst of commercial vessels. As at yesterday, we could count about 20 vessels waiting to berth.”

A lawyer representing Argentina's government, Kizito Beyuo, told the court Buenos Aires would oppose the request and asked for an adjournment until November 1, which was granted.

NML Capital Limited, whose court claims led to the detention of the ship, will not oppose the request to move the frigate to anchorage, according to its lawyer Ace Ankomah.

More than 280 sailors -- most of them Argentines -- who had been stuck in Ghana for more than three weeks since the court detained their ship flew out aboard a chartered flight on Wednesday.

The group also included naval cadets from Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Argentina was forced to organise the evacuation after an Accra court upheld an order secured by NML, a Cayman Islands investment firm, which said it is owed 370 million by Argentina.

NML, a subsidiary of New York-based Elliott Capital Management, bought Argentine bonds at a discount when the country's economy was in freefall in 2000. Buenos Aires later defaulted.

Argentina has rescheduled and refinanced much of its debt, but bonds held by speculative funds are among its unsettled business.

Argentine Farce Continues - NML-Capital targeting second Argentine navy vessel docked in South Africa

A second Argentine navy vessel has been targeted by NML-Capital which apparently has contracted a renowned South African law office to impound the corvette ARA Espora.

ARA Espora was on joint naval exercises when it broke down and had to be taken in for repairs.

The vessel had to abandon the joint naval exercise Atlassur IX with South Africa, Brazil and Uruguay because of mechanical problems and was pulled to Simonstown where she is undergoing repairs that could demand two months.

According to Buenos Aires media, the Argentine embassy in Pretoria is aware of the situation and ready for an immediate legal reply if there is litigation with one of the funds under control of Paul Singer that successfully impounded the Argentine navy’s flagship ARA Libertad in Ghana where she remains retained.

However contrary to what happened in Accra where Argentina has minimum contacts, with South Africa there are strong political and trade links, and President Jacob Zuma is considered a good friend of Argentina, according to Buenos Aires media.

Furthermore Elliot Capital three years ago was attempting something similar buying South African companies bonds at rock bottom prices to later try and recuperate the face value plus interests. Apparently the ‘vulture fund’ has yet to win a case in South Africa although several are pending.

Argentine economist and banker Federico Sturzenegger in a book under the heading “Default and lessons from a decade of crisis”, (obviously referred to Argentina), says that ‘vulture funds’ rarely have favourable sentences and equally rarely manage to impound assets of countries or corporations which they are demanding.

In the book Stursenegger mentions 35 known cases of this kind of litigations in the last twenty years, of which in only six cases did the funds recover 100% of bonds face-value; 15 were lost; in six less than a third for which they sued, and from the rest there is no available information.

However Elliot Capital was considered one of the most successful hedge funds by Wall Street last year, with a profit of 14.6%, very uncommon in these lean days. Like wise The New York Times described him as “one of the most daring hedge fund managers”, but it is difficult Mr Singer accepts new clients, ‘unless you are the wife of the Republican presidential candidate”.

Paul Singer and his funds have similar cases pending with Ivory Coast, Nicaragua and Turkmenistan, all countries involved in armed internal conflicts.