Sri Lanka has launched an offer for investors to swap $12.5bn of dollar bonds into new reduced debts, in a deal that is expected to end the south Asian nation’s first ever external default. The Sri Lankan government said on Tuesday that investors have until December 12 to vote on a proposal that would end a two-year saga for the island country and its bondholders,

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it would honour a deal secured by its predecessor to restructure $12.55 billion in international sovereign bonds, a key condition to maintain an IMF bailout loan.