World's Highest Rate Fuels Argentine Corporate Debt Distress
- Local finance adviser says worst to come after cases triple
- Interest rate is ‘destroying’ small firms’ ability to operate
This article is for subscribers only.
Count Argentina’s smaller companies among the victims of the three surprise interest-rate increases that are rippling through the economy, according to Federico Mac Dougall of First Corporate Finance Advisors SA.
Mac Dougall, the Buenos Aires-based firm’s head of restructuring, said the number of distressed companies seeking his advice has tripled this year, pushing it to levels he hasn’t seen since 2003 following Argentina’s sovereign default. And the worst is yet to come after the central bank lifted the key rate to a global high of 40 percent over three interventions in 10 days to limit a selloff in the peso.