Creditors name advisors on Greek debt swap

Greece's creditors have lined up law firms Allen & Overy, White & Case and advisory firm Blackstone to negotiate over the country's debt restructuring, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
The European Union, the European Central Bank, and the IMF are set to meet with the creditors this Friday in Paris to agree on a deal to cut Greece's debt to sustainable levels, the source said.
Creditors are eager to find an agreement sooner rather than later, the source said. The plan was to reach a deal by the middle of next week, this person said, and if that didn't work it would come at the end of January at the earliest.
Recent discussions on the structure of the deal have made progress, but numbers have yet to be discussed, the source said.
Talks with the Greek government have advanced smoothly off late, the source said, but pay-masters Brussels, the ECB and the IMF — the so-called troika — are playing hard ball on any guarantees the official sector will offer.
The parties to the international bailout want to ensure the newly issued bonds will be ruled by English law, not Greek law, the source said.
Allen & Overy was not immediately available to comment. White & Case and Blackstone declined to comment.
The Greeks are demanding that the Net Present Value on new bonds issued after a bond swap will be cut to 25 percent, Reuters reported earlier, a far harsher measure than a number around 50 percent the banks have in mind.