Argentina

Luis Caputo had been head of LatAm trading at Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan, but he’d never done a deal as important as the one facing him at the start of 2016. Few — if any — bankers ever do. Argentina’s finance secretary, known in the market as “Toto”, led the nation’s negotiations with holdout creditors, achieving a faster and cheaper resolution than most expected. This has left Caputo confident that the government will be able to do just as good a job in tackling the outstanding issues facing the economy.

Mauricio Macri’s government is having to find a fine balance between fiscal consolidation and suffering too much short term economic and political damage. Markets appear willing to finance gradual change, and economists back the government’s strategy, but improvements need to come quickly.

Argentinian debut international issuer Compania General de Combustibles (CGC) raised $300m on Wednesday, and while it offered a large pick-up over the sovereign, rival bankers were impressed that investor demand has extended to lesser known names in the region.

Banco Macro printed the largest Basel III compliant tier two bond from Argentina on Tuesday, slipping into the market with a yield palatable enough to attract a $900m book, even as investors begin to lower the amount of risk they are exposed to before year-end.

Eastern Argentine province Entre Ríos looks set to continue the run of Argentine provinces tapping international bond markets after announcing a roadshow beginning October 31.

Argentine province Santa Fe’s debut international bond issuance on Tuesday made it the second tightest sub-sovereign name in the Argentine credit spectrum as the region’s low leverage levels allowed it to price just 50bp wide of the City of Buenos Aires.

Argentina’s third largest private sector bank in terms of loan portfolio size, Banco Macro, will begin a roadshow on Wednesday ahead of a potential dollar bond issue.

Argentine oil company Compañía General de Combustibles and lender Banco Macro joined Trinidadian utility name Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) in the Latin America and Caribbean bond pipeline this week as debut issuers looked to take advantage of strong funding conditions.

The Argentine province of Santa Fe will begin a roadshow on Wednesday ahead of a much-anticipated international bond market debut.

The Province of Buenos Aires tapped its existing 2019s and 2027s for a total of $750m on Friday to take advantage of still favourable market conditions as syndicate bankers said there was no good reason for borrowers to delay issuance plans.

US based bond investors said that Argentina’s first euro-denominated bond issue for 15 years came too tight for them, as bankers said this was likely to be exactly what the sovereign had been looking for. However, the level also looked tight for yield-hungry European accounts, with the bonds trading down around a point on Thursday.

Argentine mortgage lender Banco Hipotecario announced plans to raise peso-linked bonds on Wednesday, in the second local currency transaction from the country since the sovereign exited default in April.