Bondholders negotiating a debt swap with Greece have made their “maximum” offer, leaving it to the European Union and International Monetary Fund to decide whether to accept the deal, the negotiator for private creditors said.

Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, said he's hopeful the EU and IMF will agree to terms for private investor involvement in a rescue of Greece to avert a default and collapse of the economy. Negotiations were unresolved as EU finance ministers prepared to meet in Brussels today.

“The elements now are in place for an historical voluntary PSI deal,” Dallara told Athens-based Antenna TV yesterday. “It's a question now, really, of the broader reaction of the European official sector and, of course, of the IMF to this proposal.”