Central America

Government-owned lender Banco Nacional de Costa Rica (BNCR) will use cash to finance a buy-back for a portion of senior bonds maturing in 2023, sources close to the borrower told GlobalCapital on Tuesday.

A bumper order book allowed Mexican bottling company Coca-Cola Femsa to sell a debut green bond inside guidance and inside its own curve this week, as the green aspect of the deal further broadened the audience for a credit that already holds diverse appeal.

Coca-Cola Femsa, the world’s largest franchised Coca-Cola bottler, is preparing to sell a debut green bond that it says it will use to finance its transition towards low-carbon operations and minimise its exposure to environmental risks.

Central American sovereign Belize said this week that more than three-quarters of its bondholders supported its proposal to capitalise its next three bond payments. The Covid-19 pandemic is battering the country’s tourism-reliant economy.

Mexican miner Industrias Peñoles sold $600m of bonds on Thursday to keep Latin American primary markets ticking over as sell-side bankers expect only a trickle of deals from the region until September.

Industrias Peñoles, the world’s largest producer of refined silver, began investor calls on Wednesday ahead of a proposed $600m bond issue with the Mexican mining company largely unaffected by the impact coronavirus pandemic.

The Central American Bottling Corporation (CBC), a major bottler and distributor for drinks giants PepsiCo and AmBev, raised $200m of funding in bond markets on Tuesday in an effort to refinance debt and support its cash balance.

A group of institutional investors owning Belize’s $526.5m of 2034 bonds said on Thursday that they would support an effort by the government to capitalise the next three coupon payments due on the bond. But some analysts say payment delays are unlikely to cure the country’s debt woes.

Mexican real estate investment trust Fibra Uno returned to the bond markets on Wednesday to price a postponed tap of its 2030 and 2050 notes.

El Salvador, the highest yielding Latin American sovereign not to have already announced a debt restructuring, sold $1bn of 32 year bonds on Wednesday but at a hefty concession to its inverted curve.

Mexican lender Banorte and Colombia’s second largest telecoms company began investor calls on Monday as Latin American borrowers look for funding in the wake of a rally that reawakened issuer interest in bond markets.

Central American sovereign El Salvador will this week show just how far risk appetite has rebounded in emerging markets as it seeks a long-dated benchmark bond even as an inverted bond curve suggests markets are pricing a high level of stress.