LatAm Bonds

The Government of Bermuda sold its largest-ever bond on Tuesday, opting to lock in funds now “instead of borrowing on a year-to-year basis in a rising interest rate market”, according to the finance ministry.

Dealogic league tables of bond transactions, June 31, 2013. Includes SSAs, FIG, investment grade and high-yield corporates, emerging markets and ABS.

Dealogic league tables of bond transactions, June 31, 2013. Includes SSAs, FIG, investment grade and high-yield corporates, emerging markets and ABS.

Odebrecht, the oil and gas and infrastructure company, attracted a book of $3.5bn before pricing its $1.69bn senior-secured bond on July 26 in the first Brazilian corporate deal since BRF Brasil Foods visited the market on May 15.

Itaú Unibanco, Brazil’s largest lender by market value, posted a 3.9% year-on-year increase in pre-tax profits in the second quarter of 2013 thanks in part to lower expenses for loan and lease losses.

Aa3/AA-/AA- rated Bermuda sold 10.5 year bonds totalling $750m — the top of an announced $500m-$750m range — on Tuesday after receiving more than $2.25bn in orders.

A strong performance by BBVA’s global markets division helped its corporate and investment banking unit to pre-tax profits of €447m in the second quarter of 2013, a year-on-year increase of €33m.

Banque Centrale de Tunisie, the central bank of Tunisia, priced a 10 year Samurai bond on Wednesday guaranteed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The size fell short and the pricing wide of the issuer’s last Samurai deal, though bankers involved with the trade said the result was positive given the instability in North Africa throughout 2013. The deal followed Mexico’s own triple-tranche Samurai deal, which was priced on Tuesday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Saba Nazar from Nomura as vice chair of its global financial sponsors group.

UBS announced on Tuesday that it intended to buy back the special purpose vehicle set up by the Swiss National Bank in 2008 to manage the bank’s toxic assets in the fallout of the Lehman Brothers collapse. The bank made the announcement along with the posting of its second quarter results, which saw profitability gains hindered by litigation and impairment charges.

Debt capital markets bankers covering Latin America are not expecting any new issuance from the region this week as market eyes turn to the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday and Friday’s US employment data.

Mexico priced its triple tranche Samurai on Tuesday morning, beating the levels the sovereign last paid for yen in May. But spreads over yen swaps were at the wide end of guidance for the 2016s and close to the wide end for the 2018s and 2019s.