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Angola will decide by November on a $1 billion JPMorgan deal, according to a finance official

Angola will decide by November on a $1 billion JPMorgan deal, according to a finance official

Angola's senior debt official said that the country will decide in November whether it wants to extend its $1 billion total-return swap with JPMorgan or raise money on the international capital markets.

JPMorgan agreed with Angola in December to a derivative contract worth $1 billion for a year, known as a Total Return Swap, backed up by $1.9 billion of government dollar bonds. The contract will expire in the next few months.

Dorivaldo Téixeira, Director General of the Public Debt Management Unit of Angola's Finance Ministry, said on the sidelines investor meetings in London, "We have options."

Angola, if the market conditions are right, could issue to raise funds, pay partially or extend the current agreement.

He said, "It all depends on the price." He said that while the yields of smaller, more risky issuers are improving, the JPMorgan facility costs were lower than those of the country's Eurobonds. "If I can extend it I probably will use it." Reporting by Karin Strohecker, Libby George and Amanda Cooper.

(source: Reuters)