Two hedge funds filed a complaint on Wednesday in a New York Court against Buenos Aires province for US$77 million in defaulted debt on bonds issued in 2011.

The complaint was submitted to Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The funds making the claim are Glacial Capital and TRSE, which refused to accept a debt restructuring in August 2021.

That year, following 21 separate extensions, the provincial government announced a successful debt swap with 90% of the province’s bondholders. One of the bonds the province had failed to pay was the 10.875% Global Note, which was issued in 2011 and due on January 26, 2021. Glacial and TRSE hold some of those notes.

In 2023, Judge Vyskocil ruled in the funds’ favor, ordering Buenos Aires province to make a US$35 million payment. The province is currently negotiating that suit.

On Wednesday, the funds filed a new complaint of US$77 million for the unpaid maturities.

The lawyer representing Glacial Capital and TRSE is Dennis Hranitzky, who previously represented NML Capital — a fund that claimed in 2012 that it was owed US$370 million from Argentina’s 2002 debt default. In October of that year, he became well-known for personally boarding Argentina’s ARA Libertad frigate, which was docked in Ghana, to request its embargo after a court ruled in NML’s favor. The ship ended up being detained for 77 days.

Hranitszky declined to comment on the complaint. 

A source from the Buenos Aires Province government told the Herald that the new suit merely “constitutes a judicial formality” and is “not news” for the provincial debt, which has been pending restructuring since 2021.

“The plaintiffs are the same ones as the ongoing lawsuit, as well as the securities involved, and they are already included in the mediation process that is currently open,” the source added.