Argentina

Bankers and investors see no signs of cooling in Latin American bond markets, as hefty inflows continue to leave technicals firmly in the favour of issuers.

One of Argentina’s poorest provinces, Chaco, had some bankers and investors eating their words after it sold $250m of bonds on Wednesday and found enough residual demand to trade up by 50-75 cents on Thursday.

The province of Chaco, one of the poorest in Argentina, sold $250m of bonds with an average life of seven years on Wednesday and then saw them edge upwards on the break despite scepticism from market participants about the borrower’s credit quality.

The province of Chaco is set to provide a test of demand for Argentine credit with a dollar issue on Wednesday, as bankers and investors acknowledged that favourable market conditions gave the province a good chance of a successful deal despite challenging fundamentals.

CEEMEA is focused on one issuer this week, Ghana, as Latin America borrowers ignore the summer break.

Potential bond issuers from Argentina continue to work on new deals despite fears from bankers and investors that the buy-side is beginning to tire of issuance from the country.

The province of Chubut’s debut dollar bond, sold on Tuesday, traded well on the break as bankers said demand for Argentina risk was unsated with at least two more provinces lining up issues.

Argentine electricity generation company Albanesi raised prospects of market access for small corporates from the country with a $250m seven year non-call four bond on Wednesday.

Argentine electricity generation company Albanesi raised $250m of seven year non-call four bond paper on Wednesday in the highest-yielding issue to have emerged from the country this year.

Predictions that the Argentine province of Chubut’s debut public dollar bond would trade well were proven correct on Wednesday as bankers said demand for Argentina risk was unsated despite large new issue premiums.

Argentine infrastructure group Clisa (Compañía Latinoamericana de Infraestructura & Servicios) will buy back at least 80% of its 11.5% bonds due 2019 after receiving a strong response to a tender offer.

Lat Am bond bankers said that conditions continued to be supportive for most Argentine borrowers, although the contrasting fortunes of the deals in the market last week showed that investors were becoming more selective.