Brussels, 26/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 23 March, the Greek government decided to extend until Wednesday 4 April the expiry date for the exchange of Greek bonds issued under legal systems other than the Greek system. Of the €27 billion worth of bonds in question, private investors owning nearly €19bn have already stated willingness to voluntarily participate in the Greek bond write-down. Athens is hoping to win over as many of the remainder as possible in order to reduce its debt burden by €107bn, from 162% of GDP to around 120% by 2020. Private investors under the scheme receive new bonds worth 31.5% of the face value of the bonds traded in. The new, two-year, bonds in question have a maturity of two years and are issued by the European Financial Stability Facility, the eurozone's temporary bailout scheme. (MB/transl.fl)