LatAm Bonds

Mexican non-bank lender Unifin made its second bond market outing of the year on Thursday with a senior unsecured deal that came at the wide end of initial price thoughts.

Bankers said that the Dominican Republic’s Dominican peso bond sale was the highlight of a busy but choppy day in Latin American primary debt markets, though market volatility cost the sovereign heavily in dollars.

Bond market participants said on Wednesday said that Latin American issuers could return in force on Thursday after another day of calm in markets.

Secondary markets for Latin American bonds have held up well in the context of a storm of hefty sell-offs across global equity markets, but volatility is likely to make new issuance tougher as a raft of high yield borrowers line up deals.

Bankers observing South American development bank CAF’s return to euro markets on Tuesday suggested that the multilateral had done well to push through equity market volatility with its largest ever euro deal.

Panda bond issuance has so far been dominated by overseas-incorporated Chinese names. That bolsters volumes, but it does little to help the market fulfil its role of boosting RMB internationalisation. Policymakers have the chance to fix it — but only if they are bold enough to let markets play a bigger role.

Chilean company Prime Energía is looking to raise $575m of seven year bonds via a debut deal to be issued in conjunction with another company owned by the same group.

South American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) is due to price its first benchmark of 2018 after announcing initial price thoughts for a euro-denominated seven year.

Peruvian agricultural company Camposol could return to bond markets this week as it looks to capitalise on an improved rating to refinance expensive debt issued during darker days.

Canada-listed oil and gas company Gran Tierra Energy, which has the majority of its operations in Colombia, is planning a debut 144A/Reg S bond offering which will come due in 2025, the company said.

Mexican state-owned oil giant Pemex attracted a huge book for its eagerly-anticipated dollar market return on Thursday as bond investors pile into the region’s credits despite major elections looming.

Caribbean sovereign the Dominican Republic could become the first Latin American issuer to seek local currency bonds in the international markets this year as bankers say that timing could not be better for traditionally hard to execute deals.