Colombia

Colombian airline Avianca has extended the early-bird period of a vital exchange offer after United Airlines and Kingsland Holdings said they needed a bigger take-up from bondholders in order to provide at least $250m of shareholder funding.

Colombian airline Avianca is offering bondholders the chance to swap unsecured bonds at par for new secured debt as it looks to stave off a looming maturity and clinch $250m of shareholder funding. The airline’s CFO said on Thursday that he felt positive the exchange would go ahead in its existing form.

Colombian airline Avianca is offering bondholders the chance to swap unsecured bonds at par for new secured debt as it looks to stave off a looming maturity and clinch $250m of shareholder funding.

Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (SCIB), Banco Santander’s investment banking unit, has appointed Marcel Patiño from Itaú BBA as its new head of Santander SCIB Colombia.

Colombian airline Avianca will use a par exchange to attempt to tackle a $550m May 2020 bond maturity, offering noteholders collateral and potential for a coupon increase — if the company is able to renegotiate certain loans.

Two Latin American companies announced bond roadshows this week, with a third launching a tender that will require a new issue, as the region’s issuers flock to the low rate environment and gradually rehabilitate disappointing issuance volumes.

The Latin America primary bond market was quiet this week thanks to dollar investors instead enjoying the US Independence Day holiday, but bankers say sentiment is at its strongest at least since January 2018 as several of the region’s issuers lined up roadshows.

Colombian utility Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) will begin fixed-income investor meetings on Thursday and could issue dollar bonds for the first time in 10 years as part of a $1bn-equivalent deal to refinance debt.

The chief financial officer of Avianca Holdings told GlobalCapital that he is in near daily discussions with export credit agencies (ECAs) to resolve two separate issues and thus allow the Colombian airline to return to bond markets to refinance a $550m bond maturing in May 2020.

The chief financial officer of Avianca Holdings told GlobalCapital that he is in near daily discussions with export credit agencies (ECAs) to resolve two separate issues and thus allow the Colombian airline to return to bond markets to refinance a $550m bond maturing in May 2020.

Gran Tierra Energy, the Canada-listed oil and gas company that mostly operates in Colombia, ventured into bond markets for the second time this week to sell $300m of debt at a pick-up to its existing notes.

Gran Tierra Energy, the Canada-listed oil and gas company that mostly operates in Colombia, ventured into bond markets for the second time on Monday to sell $300m of debt at a pick-up to its existing notes.