It’s not quite Bush v. Gore 2.0, but the two legal protagonists of that epic showdown before the Supreme Court will be back at it today.
Lawyers Ted Olsen and David Boies will appear before a Manhattan US appeals court to argue over how $1.44 billion in Argentina debt should be paid.
Olsen represents billionaire hedge fund magnate Paul Singer, who claims he and other bondholder holdouts should be paid alongside those holders who agreed to a steep haircut during a debt restructuring.
Argentina President Cristina Kirchner has long insisted she will never pay “one dollar” to the Singer holdouts.
Boies represents the bondholders who agreed to the restructuring — and they oppose Singer, believing that Argentina will never go along with a pro-holdout ruling, thus putting their bonds at risk of default.
The bonds tanked last fall when the appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that said that Singer’s group must be paid whenever the exchange bondholders were paid.
After those bonds went into free fall in late November, about a dozen investment funds — mostly hedge funds — lined up opposite Elliott and three other hedge funds on its side.
The Bank of New York, the trustee agent for the bondholders, also protested being dragged into the fray.
The hearing is “critical for Argentine bond markets,” JP Morgan analyst Vladimir Werning said last night in a note to clients.
Market players — who are expected to flood the courtroom — “are going to try to read into the judges’ questions whether . . . they sympathize or are hostile to one side or the other,” Werning told The Post.
Longtime Argentina lawyer Jonathan Blackman will represent the South American country.
The appeals court is not expected to issue its final ruling for at least a month, and Argentina is likely to appeal any ruling that goes against it to the Supreme Court.
mcelarier@nypost.com
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