Greece bond payment may threaten future EU restructurings

Greece's decision to pay holders of 435 million euros ($553 million) in international bonds that matured on Tuesday threatens to dissuade investors from participating in future eurozone restructurings.

Greece said it will pay the full amount of an issue left outstanding from last month's 206-billion-euro debt exchange. Greece said then that the swap, which wiped out more than 100 billion euros of debt and half the principal owed investors, was its "best" and "only" offer. The bonds paid off at par on Tuesday were as low as 66.5 cents on the euro in December, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

"Next time that issue comes around, and it might be in Greece or it might be in Portugal, the temptation will be to try and hold out," said Michael Hampden-Turner, a credit strategist at Citigroup Inc in London.