LatAm Bonds

Mexico City Airport Trust (Mexcat) offered an improved deal to bondholders this week as it seeks to make the documentation changes necessary to allow it to cancel its Texcoco airport project, but analysts said the new government has a long way to go before regaining the trust of markets.

Bondholders were never going to be satisfied with Mexico’s new government after it cancelled the airport project in which they’d invested $6bn. But though the issuer’s tender offer and consent solicitation is unlikely to be the administration’s last squabble with markets, it is still a good sign.

Mexico’s finance ministry showed it was willing to listen to investor concerns with a new improved tender offer from Mexico City Airport Trust (Mexcat), but for some bondholders at least it will not be enough to persuade them to participate.

Paraguay wasp once again the rare consistent provider of good news for Latin America bond markets this week when it earned a credit rating upgrade from Fitch that puts it just one notch off investment grade status with three of the major rating agencies.

A group of bondholders publicly opposing the proposal by Mexico City Airport Trust (Mexcat) to amend documentation in its bond documents now represents over half the issuer’s debt, according to the law firm representing them.

Mexico City airport bondholders are right to turn their noses up at attempts to modify documentation. But though the issuer’s offer will not be the new government’s last squabble with markets, it is still a good sign.

Peruvian cement company Cementos Pacasmayo will buy back more than half its dollar bonds after an oversubscribed tender offer.

In this round-up, Trump was confident China would deliver on promises from G20 dinner, China signed several cooperation agreements in Panama and Argentina, China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) planned to lift bans on trading stock-index futures to boost market activity.

NiQuan Energy Trinidad Limited, the owner of a gas-to-liquids plant in Trinidad & Tobago, began meeting bond investors on Tuesday. But another tough week left Latin America bond bankers down on the chances of new issuance before the end of the year.

Mexico’s new government acted swiftly to show that it would at least engage with financial markets this week. But investors' reaction to a tender offer for Mexico City airport bonds suggested it was the beginning of a troublesome relationship.

Brazilian government-owned oil company Petrobras has said it is looking to deleverage as part of its new five year business plan. But it will still be a regular borrower in capital markets. Furthermore, though some Latin American debt capital markets bankers say their January pipeline is looking bearer than it usually does at this stage of the year, Brazilian public sector issuers could be the one active area of the market.

Investors are turning their attention to 2019, hoping for better returns than 2018 afforded. Despite the US Federal Reserve’s rate hiking ambitions and uncertainty over a US/China trade war, investors are looking forward to next year.