Americas

Brazilian government-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras took advantage of a buoyant market on Wednesday to clean up the long end of its curve, shrugging off political concerns with a new 30 year bond that came well inside fair value and left no doubt about the quality of funding conditions for Latin American issuers.

Brazilian oil and gas company PetroRio accessed bond markets on Wednesday just eight months after it pulled an earlier deal, with observers crediting the company’s success to an improved credit profile, enhanced note structure, higher oil prices and better bond market conditions.

Citi has hired Chuck Adams from Goldman Sachs to oversee a newly formed investment banking unit combining the traditional healthcare sector with consumer and retail coverage.

Mexican building materials company Cemex is looking to sell a perpetual hybrid bond that it believes will help it towards its target of building an investment grade capital structure.

Grupo Axo, the Mexican fashion retailer, sold $325m of five year notes on its international bond market debut on Tuesday, tightening the price as bankers said Latin America bond markets were in a sweet spot for new issuance.

Two senior leveraged finance lawyers have switched firms from White & Case to Allen & Overy in New York, following Jake Mincemoyer, who joined A&O as head of US levfin in February.

Bank of Montreal attracted good demand for a €1.25bn eight year covered bond on Tuesday and paid a modest new issue concession. The outcome was deemed a fine result given that market conditions are not at their best.

Moody’s has placed Peruvian miner Compañía de Minas Buenaventura’s B1 rating on review for downgrade, just as the company prepares a debut bond issue to repay a tax liability that has sharply increased its debt.

China’s Full Truck Alliance (FTA), an Uber-like service for trucks, is planning an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, having filed a prospectus with the US regulator.

AstraZeneca, the UK drug company, showed the eager demand for merger and acquisition financings this week when it achieved ultra-tight pricing on a $7bn bond issue to fund its acquisition of US biotech firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

Latin American bond bankers expect several new deals to be announced after the May 31 Memorial Day holiday in the US, as borrowers look to get ahead of potential noise regarding the Federal Reserve tapering its policy stimulus. But investors appeared ambivalent this week about the prospect of a wave of new supply.

The Dominican Republic is likely to return to bond markets shortly with a local currency deal, after launching a tender offer for old bonds that is contingent on a new issue. Citi and JP Morgan are managing the liability management exercise — their fourth consecutive mandate with the Caribbean sovereign.