LatAm Bonds

Ecuador, the highest yielding single B sovereign in the world, issued $750m of 10 year bonds on Thursday, becoming the second Latin American credit in a week to take advantage of the recent rally in oil, following Mexican state-owned oil giant Pemex’s $5.5bn bond.

Latin American bond bankers believe that Tuesday’s triple tranche bond issue from Pemex is likely to have been the last cross-border deal of the year from the region, even though the bonds provided further encouraging signs with a strong aftermarket performance.

Mexican state-owned oil giant Pemex responded to Mexico’s impressive first competitive deep-water oil auction by reminding investors of its prowess in markets with a $5.5bn triple tranche bond.

Things may finally be looking up for Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção (OEC), the engineering and construction arm of Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht, after it came to a leniency agreement with Brazilian, US and Swiss authorities regarding its involvement in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.

Chilean retailer SMU appears to be putting the worst of its financial troubles behind it as Moody’s granted the borrower another rating upgrade.

Latin American issuers again showed no interest in cross-border new issue markets this week as Mexican retailer and financial services company Grupo Elektra said it would use domestic bonds to prepay dollar bonds.

Pulp and paper producer Suzano has sold its second green bond and the first in Brazil’s domestic markets.

PDVSA is doing itself no favours by bending the truth about its financial situation. Bondholders are under no illusions about its troubles, so the company might as well be open with them.

Pulp and paper producer Suzano has sold its second green bond and the first in Brazil’s domestic markets.

PDVSA is doing itself no favours by bending the truth about its financial situation. Bondholders are under no illusions about its troubles, so the company might as well be open with them.

Brazilian steel company Usiminas, which restructured its bank loans and domestic debt in September, has said it will attempt an exchange of its dollar 2018 bonds, which were not part of the restructuring.

The government of El Salvador finally looks ready to issue a much needed international bond to refinance short dated debt, but there is concern that the deal will be only a temporary solution to the country’s liquidity problems.