Central America

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.

Mexican real estate investment trust (Reit) Fibra Uno will monitor markets as it continues to look for liability management opportunities after pulling a proposed Reg S-only trade last week, the company’s capital markets vice-president has told GlobalCapital.

Two of Mexico’s best-rated issuers eased through bond markets this week, even as the country faces ever-worsening economic forecasts, while bankers said Latin America’s top names could issue multiple times this year.

Mexican real estate investment trust (Reit) Fibra Uno pulled a proposed dollar Eurobond issue on Wednesday as investors said they believed the issuer may have underestimated the importance of the bid from US Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs).

DCM bankers said that Mexican personal care products maker Kimberly Clark de México (KCM) was from the ideal sector for this market after it tightened pricing on a new issue sharply despite a difficult day in global markets.

Mexican real estate investment trust (Reit) Fibra Uno’s plans to return to bond markets were shaken on Tuesday when the issuer delayed pricing “as part of company protocol” when an earthquake hit the country.

BBVA is the latest large European bank to have suffered a ratings downgrade during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Fitch having moved the issuer’s debt ratings down by a notch blaming a weaker operating environment in Mexico and Spain.

Mexican conglomerate Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa) turned to international bond markets for the third time this year20 on Monday, clinching its tightest dollar funding of the year despite wider spreads.

US investment managers GMO and Greylock will again unite to begin negotiations with Belize after the government said on Wednesday it wanted to delay all bond payments until February.

Central American sovereign Honduras marked a new milestone for EM bond markets in the coronavirus era this week as it became the lowest-rated issuer from Latin America to issue during the crisis. Oliver West reports.