- Bond exchange reduces $22 billion of bonds to about $7 billion
- Bondholders to be paid for first time in almost six years
Puerto Rico’s ended its nearly five-year bankruptcy as the commonwealth restructured $22 billion of debt, a crucial step that aims to help the island’s economy and repair its finances.
The U.S. territory cut the debt down to about $7 billion Tuesday through a bond exchange where investors hand in their securities for new general obligations. The transaction effectively ends Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy and resolves a major chunk of the $74 billion of debt that the island and its agencies had racked up when the bankruptcy began in May 2017.
Bloomberg Markets
By Michelle Kaske and Jim Wyss
March 14, 2022