September 24th - that's the day the government of Belize plans to launch the Blue Bond - and it means that the holders of the Superbond have just over a week to accept the final offer for a buyout.
Government announced yesterday that it has opened its offer to buy back the half a billion US dollar Superbond at about 55 cents on the dollar.
That amounts to huge savings for the government of Belize - and about the best offer that bondholders are likely to get. Government already has buy-in from more than 60% of the bondholders and is expecting to rope in all of them with this cash offer which closes in 10 days.
The incentive is that "Eligible bond Holders who tender their Bonds at or before that date will be eligible to receive the Total Payment," while those who hold out, will not.
So while that's their incentive to take the best deal, Belize's best deal is that it expects to finance the purchase of the Bonds via The Nature Conservancy Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation program which uses private capital to refinance public debt of participating countries in order to support durable marine conservation efforts and sustainable marine-based economic activity.
The CEO in the Blue Economy Ministry today said it is a win-win:
Kennedy Carrillo, C.E.O., Ministry of Blue Economy
"Blue bonds is blue economy and blue economy is blue bonds. We cannot speak about blue bonds and not speak about blue economy because as we know blue economy teaches us that we have a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of our marine spaces and resources in a manner that can have economic benefits for our country. This means that we have to do it responsibly and we have to do it sustainably. I always say that what we have out there in the blue is what we have to invest, what we have to negotiate with. And so when we sit around the table, we're gonna make sure that we are taking care of our investment; we are not going to squander it like any smart business person, any smart investor. We are going to make sure that we are building on it and not destroying it. And so obviously the blue bond provides us with that opportunity. It is a win-win. This is one that no one can fight about, it's a win-win."
