LatAm Bonds

Latin America’s three largest oil companies are maintaining hefty investment programmes in spite of tumbling oil prices, thanks to their low production costs and comfortable profit margins. Yet that is about as far as the similarities go for Venezuela's PDVSA, Brazil's Petrobras and Mexico's Pemex.

Venezuela needs to act in the face of falling oil prices after the price of a barrel of Brent crude slumped below $70 per barrel for the first time in four years in the wake of OPEC’s decision on Thursday to maintain output levels, analysts said.

Chile, which met European investors this week and will head to the US next week, is yet to make a decision on currency or maturity, according to a banker working with the sovereign.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff gave New York-based LatAm bankers the Thanksgiving gift they so wanted by naming Bradesco Asset Management head Joaquim Levy as her finance minister on Thursday, confirming a week of speculation that had led to a slight recovery in Brazilian bond prices.

Bonds of Brazilian corporates affected by the Petrobras corruption scandal have flunked in the last week. But prices jumping about at such speed tells us less about the credits in question than about a broader market malaise.

Chile, holding investor meetings in Europe this week, is yet to make a decision on currency or maturity, according to a banker working with the sovereign.

Brazilian sugar and ethanol company Cosan will hit the road after Thanksgiving ahead of a potential 144A/Reg S bond that would be used to fund a tender for the company’s 8.25% perpetual notes.

US energy company ContourGlobal’s plans to issue debt via its Peruvian subsidiary Energía Eólica in a deal that could provide Latin America with its first ever green bond.

Bonds of Brazilian corporates affected by the Petrobras corruption scandal have flunked in the last week. But prices jumping about at such speed tells us less about the credits in question than about a broader market malaise.

Chile has mandated banks for a roadshow with a multibillion dual currency issue expected to follow and mark the return of Latin America’s best rated sovereign to international bond markets after a two year absence.

Privately owned US-based power company ContourGlobal is preparing to issue a 144A/Reg S bond via its Peruvian subsidiary Energía Eólica, just three months after it started operations at the two largest wind farms in Peru.

A trio of heavily oversubscribed and tightly priced corporate deals from Latin America on Thursday showed that Petrobras’ problems were only for Brazilian issuers and no one else, as Mexicans Elementia and Gruma, and Chilean Angamos, fetched huge order books in spite of Alibaba’s $8bn jumbo.