Investors offer $38.8 bn in Greek debt buyback

Greek and foreign bondholders offered the targeted euro 30 billion ($38.8 billion) in a debt buyback that is key to the country’s international bailout, a Greek government official said on Saturday, suggesting the plan had broadly succeeded.

The plan is central to efforts by Greece’s Euro zone and International Monetary Fund (IMF) lenders to cut its debt to manageable levels and unlock more than 30 billion euros of rescue loans the country badly needs later this month.

It accounts for about half of a broader, euro 40-billion EU/IMF debt relief package for Athens agreed in November. Under its terms, Athens will spend up to euro 10 billion euros of borrowed money to buy back bonds with a nominal value of about euro 30 billion.