LatAm Bonds

Year to Date Latin America DCM Bookrunner Ranking

Nearly seven weeks after it roadshowed in Europe, Banco do Brasil is looking to price a euro-denominated benchmark of up to €500m in a sign of Latin borrowers increasing confidence in market conditions.

Mexico is expected to sell its first Samurai bond of the year later this month, following a recent roadshow. The Samurai market was able to avoid the recent rates volatility that dollars and euros were subject to and now more issuers are looking at the possibility of trades in that format.

The board of BBVA Banco Continental, the Peruvian subsidiary of Spanish lender BBVA, has approved a programme of 144A/Reg S subordinated debt issuance of up to $600m.

Chilean power transmission company Transelec is plotting a return to the bond markets after an absence of more than 12 years, as bankers say market conditions are constructive for Latin borrowers.

Bankers are saying that more A-rated emerging market issuers could tap the Swiss franc market throughout the summer after Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), rated Aa3/AA-/AA-, sold its second Swiss franc bond of the year on Tuesday. But they reckon lower rated names would not find the same demand.

The Republic of Uruguay has filed a shelf with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that will allow it to sell up to $5bn of bonds.

Fitch has downgraded El Salvador from BB to BB-, just seven months after the Central American sovereign raised 12 year money at a yield of less than 6%.

In a favourable market, Mexican telecoms company América Móvil had to reduce the size of a planned bond issue on Monday after receiving only £400m of demand for a sterling tranche it had announced at £500m. The euro tranche was priced at the target size of €750m.

Monday’s dual tranche euro/sterling bond from América Móvil, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, came quickly after compatriot Pemex, the oil company, had reopened the international bond markets for Latin American borrowers last Thursday after a break of more than a month.

Mexican oil company Pemex’s market-reopening bonds were trading up between half a point to a point up on Friday afternoon, one day after pricing, said bankers in New York. The performance is a sign of the stability of the market for Latin American issuers, but it does not automatically mean more deals will be on the way.

América Móvil, the Mexican telecoms company owned by Carlos Slim, is aiming to sell €750m of 10 year bonds and £500m of 20 years on Monday.