Just how tricky is the Greek bond deal?

To avoid Greece defaulting and exiting the Euro, European Central Bank officials have been trying to square a circle. They are funding a bankrupt country, avoiding expansionary monetary policy that the Germans hate and trying to avoid crippling haircuts to holders of Greek debt.

Felix Salmon, financial blogger at Reuters, uncovers an ugly deal that is taking shape:

This is no normal bond exchange: No one else gets this deal, and there are no tag-along rights for private-sector investors who might fancy the opportunity to do something similar. It’s a basic tenet of bond market that all bonds of a given series are equal and fungible, and that what happens to one happens to them all. But not here.

Read more here.

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