Bond swap already two-thirds covered

The process of swapping 20 bonds stemming from the Greek debt restructuring of 2012, or private sector involvement (PSI), began on Wednesday with the issue of new securities.

In a statement on Wednesday the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) invited private bondholders to exchange those 20 bond series for five new issues before November 28. The book will remain open for longer than usual due to the technical complexities of the procedure.

PDMA said that the aim is for the Greek yield curve to revert "back to normal and to supply the market with a limited series of securities that are expected to have significantly greater liquidity than the existing series."

It also explained that the objective of this redistribution is to "concentrate the debt in fewer and more marketable issues while allowing thousands of depositors who have been trapped in these issues since...