Central America

The top tier of emerging market companies and sovereigns are funding themselves at near pre-coronavirus levels, but there is stark inequality in the market. The vast majority of EM corporates will have to sit out a while longer as funding costs remain prohibitively high for triple- and double-B rated issuers, writes Oliver West.

Telecoms giant América Móvil on Monday became the first private sector non-financial company from Latin America to issue a bond since the coronavirus pandemic battered emerging market bond markets in March. But the company’s unique appeal to non-EM buyers means few conclusions can be drawn about appetite for genuine Lat Am companies.

Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), the South American development bank, could follow fellow Lat Am multilateral Cabei into bond markets after mandating for an SEC-registered US dollar deal.

Central American development bank Cabei announced its return to US bond markets in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis with its largest ever bond deal, as a strong bid from Asian buyers helped the lender to raise $750m inside regional comps.

Central American development bank Cabei is set to price its first 144A bond in nearly eight years on Wednesday after setting initial price thoughts.

After releasing first quarter results that one credit analyst said showed “limited to no impact” from the coronavirus pandemic, Mexican payroll lender Crédito Real said on Monday that it had established a $1.5bn MTN programme that would give it “access to a wide array of debt securities in various international markets, currencies and maturities”.

Mexico proved its capital market prowess with a highly oversubscribed $6bn bond this week, despite facing a wave of downgrades, concerns about the contingent liability represented by Pemex, and investor fears that the government is reacting too slowly to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mexico’s deputy finance minister told GlobalCapital that proceeds from Wednesday’s $6bn blow-out bond would not be used to help state oil giant Pemex, despite several investors believing the government needed to issue more to prop up the debt-laden company with oil price having crashed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico will continue to monitor international markets even after printing a $6bn triple-tranche deal on Wednesday, and this might include a buy-back of green bonds that were issued to finance the construction of a new airport that ended up being cancelled by the current administration.

Central American development bank Cabei will hold investor calls this week as it prepares to bring its first 144A bond in nearly eight years.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) completed a capitalisation on Monday, increasing its authorised capital from $5bn to $7bn.

Latin American bond markets, barely back on their feet after the initial onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, had to contend on Monday with an unprecedented collapse in oil prices too. The sight of WTI trading below zero made some market participants nervous and suggested issuers with funding needs should brace for unexpected bouts of volatility.