How the world’s biggest debt conversion for nature worked in the Galapagos
Going back to 2023 – Ecuador’s public debt, given its economic capacity, was trading at a significant discount. The country, working with its own financial advisors as well as then-Credit Suisse and the Pew Bertarelli Oceans Legacy Trust, was able to create a debt conversion for nature proposal.
This allowed Ecuador to undertake a tender offer on its current debt which would be financed by the new investors in the to-be issued debt conversion for nature notes. When the first transaction went ahead in May 2023, Ecuador swapped $1.6bn of its sovereign debt for a new loan of $656m, according to S&P Global Ratings.
Transactions typically have multilateral…