Copa Airlines seeks to convert Venezuela debt to bonds

chairman Stanley Motta has asked the Venezuelan government to convert USD470 million of unrepatriated revenue still tied-up in the country, into longterm bonds. “I am trying to find something that makes sense to both sides,” he told Bloomberg news in an interview last week. “If they take that debt and say this is the same as having public bonds out there, and this is how we will pay it over time, and this is the institution involved, I literally think that’s the best thing for Venezuela.” Copa Holdings said in its first-quarter report that the USD470 million, or 41%, of its cash, short-term and long-term investments were still in Venezuela pending repatriation. More…