US Appeals Court Upholds PDVSA 2020 Bond, Rules No Prior Assembly Approval Needed

The ruling shifts the legal ground under a contested sovereign-linked instrument, and the practical weight falls on bondholders and counterparties who have spent years pricing in the risk that the issuance could be unwound. By locating the approval question outside the National Assembly's prior consent, the court narrows one avenue for challenging similar Venezuelan state-entity debt. Whether this reasoning travels to other disputed PDVSA or sovereign obligations is the open question, and it is the point creditors and restructuring talks will be watching.