The bond issue on which Mozambique is about to default is the $727m Eurobond, due January 2023. This is the bond issued in April 2016 to refinance Mozambique’s notorious 'tuna bonds'. The tuna bond prospectuses described their purpose as 'fishing infrastructure'. But the new tuna fishing fleet never materialized, though a lot of heavily armed patrol boats did. Nonetheless, the majority of bondholders agreed to exchange their tuna bonds maturing in 2020 for new interest-only Eurobonds with a maturity three years later.

Source: Forbes January 18, 2017 01:03 UTC