Greece expected to announce success of debt reduction scheme, which will prompt release of next installment

From ekathimerini.com: Greece is expected to announce Monday the successful execution of its bond buyback scheme thanks to interest from hedge funds and local banks, which will allow Athens to reduce its debt by about 20 billion euros and secure the release of its next tranche of funding from the eurozone and International Monetary Fund.

Finance Ministry sources said on Saturday that the target of collecting about 30 billion euros’ worth of offers for the buyback had been achieved. It is thought that hedge funds offered about 15 to 16 billion euros of Greek paper, while local banks will contribute up to 16 billion euros.  This would allow Greece to spend about 10 billion euros to buy back 30 billion euros’ worth of bonds, reducing its debt by 20 billion….

Stay tuned sports fans…  Don’t touch that dial.  In the meantime read all about it at http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_08/12/2012_473595