(MENAFN- AFP) Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA said Monday it restructured 39 percent of its debt in a bond swap, falling short of its goal but giving the struggling firm much-needed breathing room.
After extending the sign-up deadline three times and sweetening the deal for creditors, PDVSA announced a swap for $2.8 billion in bonds, extending the repayment date from 2017 to 2020.
That fell short of its goal of restructuring half its $7.1 billion bond debt.
But it should help the company stave off default as it struggles to meet its short-term debt obligations amid a plunge in global oil prices.
The plan will save the firm $928.6 billion this year, according to brokerage firm Rendivalores.
The new bonds offer a 50.1 percent stake in PDVSA's US subsidiary, Citgo, as a guarantee in case of default.
Venezuela is home to the world's largest proven oil reserves, but has sunk into a deep recession as crude prices have collapsed since mid-2014.
PDVSA, the country's largest company, had revenues of just $72.2 billion last year, down from $121.9 billion in 2014.
The oil price crunch has unleashed an economic crisis in Venezuela, where severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods are stoking widespread outrage at leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
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