Greece ready to seal deal on bond swaps with private creditors

Greece closed a bond swap offer to private creditors last night after clearing the minimum threshold of acceptance to push the deal through, moving closer to unlocking funds it needs to avoid a dangerous debt default.

Government officials said before the final deadline for declaring interest passed at 2000 GMT that more than 75% of eligible bonds had already been committed.

The biggest sovereign debt restructuring in history will see bond holders accept losses of some 74% on the value of their investments in a deal that will cut more than €100bn from Greece’s crippling public debt.