BUENOS AIRES, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Argentine province Entre Rios said it "regrets" that creditors have sued in the U.S. federal courts over its failure to pay a coupon that was due on Aug. 8, 2020, the provincial government said in a statement seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The province is restructuring about $500 million in bonds after Argentina's national government revamped more than $100 billion in sovereign obligations last year, with a high rate of investor acceptance of the deal.
Entre Rios said in the statement it "regrets that investors have designated a New York law firm as their interlocutor instead of a financial advisor as is market practice."
The committee of the Ad Hoc Group, which owns 54% of the province's 2025 'ER25' bonds, said on Monday that it decided to go to the court of the Southern District of New York to collect.
Entre Rios issued the bonds in 2017. It has said that non-payment was inevitable following the sudden devaluation of the Argentine peso in 2018. The currency crisis that year prompted then President Mauricio Macri to sign onto a $57 billion standby lending deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Argentina is currently renegotiation the IMF pact.
The province's 'ER25' bonds have original amortizations in 2023, 2024 and 2025, with an interest rate payable semi-annually of 8.75%.
"The Province of Entre Rios does not have income in foreign currency, such as petroleum royalties. So its relationship between resources expressed in dollars and debt in said currency, suffered a distortion that prevented the fulfillment of its obligations," the statement added.
"The Province will continue doing its best to alleviate the crisis that its population is going through, including the renegotiation of its debt with all those creditors willing to have a constructive dialogue," the statement concluded. (Reporting by Jorge Otaola, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by David Gregorio)
