KIEV, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's state-owned energy company Naftogaz defaulted on a $500 million Eurobond issue as the repayment deadline expired on Wednesday night, the Ukrainian edition of a Russian daily said on Thursday.
However, the company's default can only be officially announced in five days, a period formally required to settle problems with bondholders. The failure to pay will drive up the cost of borrowings not only for Naftogaz but also for Ukraine as a whole in the future, business paper Kommersant Ukraine wrote.
The Luxembourg stock exchange on Wednesday delisted Naftogaz's $500 million Eurobond issue with the maturity on September 30.
"From the moment trading was halted and Naftogaz failed to repay its obligations, the company's default automatically occurred," an analyst with leading Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital said.
Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday that Naftogaz had paid only interest on the $500 million Eurobond issue but was seeking to restructure the principal debt.
Naftogaz offered the bondholders on September 24 to swap the Eurobonds that matured Wednesday night for new papers backed by a government guarantee and maturity in 2014, and also to increase the coupon rate from the current 8.125% to 9.5% per annum, the paper said.
The Naftogaz press office declined to comment, saying a bondholders' meeting would be held on October 9.
Naftogaz CEO Oleh Dubyna said on Wednesday that investors had preliminarily given their consent to the debt restructuring.
Previous debt payments by Naftogaz, which transits Russian natural gas to Europe, led to a gas dispute with Russia, which briefly shut down supplies via Ukraine's pipeline system at the start of the year.
The conflict was resolved in January, when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko reached a deal on imports and transit for 2009.
