Ukraine fails to reach restructuring deal with GDP-linked debt holders

By Marc Jones

(Reuters) -Ukraine's government said on Thursday that it had not been able to agree to a deal with holders of its GDP-linked warrants to restructure the bond-like debt instruments, although it did intend to continue talking with them.

    "Ukraine indicated that it could not accept the Restricted (GDP Warrant) Holders’ Proposal and declined to make any further proposal," the government said in a statement.

It added that it intended to "continue engagement" with the debtholders, however, and would consider "all available options" to restructure the debt, which is a stipulation of its IMF programme.

    Ukraine threw in the $2.6 billion worth of GDP warrants - fixed income securities indexed to economic growth - to sweeten its 2015 debt restructuring following Russia's annexation of Crimea. 

But their complex structure meant they had not been part of last year's broader $20 billion restructuring that became necessary following Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022.

    It had been in talks with a group of warrant holders ahead of the next scheduled payout of the instruments at the end of May. It also comes as Kyiv faces mounting pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to agree to a ceasefire deal.

"The GDP warrants were designed for a world that no longer exists," Ukraine's Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said in a statement following the breakdown of talks, adding that the modest rebound in its economy had done little to mend the near 30% slump caused by Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion.

"These financial instruments must not become an obstacle to our recovery."

Lawyers representing the GDP warrant holders did not immediately provide a comment on the breakdown of talks with the government.

The debt fell 2.4 cents to just over 70 cents on dollar following Ukraine's statement, Tradeweb data showed.

(Reporting by Marc Jones and Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Alex Richardson)