Argentina’s century bond: much ado about nothing

Argentina’s recently issued century bond deal was unexpected in terms of timing and maturity.

Century bonds in Emerging Markets (EM) are rare (we think the table below is pretty exhaustive) and they grab the headlines, especially when issued by a credit that has defaulted many (many) times, like Argentina.

Are century bonds that much risker?

1. Duration: The duration of century bonds is not much longer than the duration of 30-year bonds, which themselves are quite common amongst emerging markets, including Argentina.