Twelve major firms say they will swap Greek debt ( ALV BNP CBK DBK ) (by William L. Watts)

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Twelve major holders of Greek government debt on Monday said they would participate in a bond swap plan that aims to write down the value of privately-held Greek paper by 53.5%. The Institute of International Finance, an international banking trade group that led negotiations with the Greek government over the swap, said members of the Private Creditor-Investor Committee for Greece's steering panel, including Allianz SE (de:alv) , Commerzbank AG (de:cbk) , BNP Paribas (fr:bnp) , Deutsche Bank (de:dbk) , Greece's Eurobank EFG, National Bank of Greece and Greylock Capital Management and others would participate. In a statement, the IIF said neither the committee nor any of its members "makes any recommendation or offers any advice to any other [private-sector] holder of ... eligible debt."