LatAm Bonds

Spanish casino group Codere’s bonds came under pressure this week, after Moody’s downgraded the company. The rating agency thinks that “it is unlikely that Codere will be able to avoid restructuring its balance sheet”.

Mexican road operator Red de Carreteras de Occidente (RCO) shrugged off what some bankers described as cracks in the market caused by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech on Wednesday to raise Ps7.5bn of ($603m) of 2028 bonds from international investors.

Mexican borrowers appear confident in the depth of the peso market as road operator Red de Carreteras de Occidente (RCO) looks set to come to market this week with a Ps10bn ($813m) bond aimed at international investors.

Coca-Cola Amatil sold an Australian dollar EMTN on Wednesday afternoon, opting for an unusual seven year maturity to increase the yield to investors.

Mexican retailer Grupo Famsa has pencilled in a senior unsecured bond sale for Thursday in what would be the first single B issuer from Latin America to come to market since May 3.

Fitch has become the second ratings agency this year to downgrade OGX, the Brazilian oil and gas company with $3.6bn of international bonds outstanding, as the borrower’s aggressive acquisition policy leads to liquidity concerns.

Reverse demand from investors encouraged food conglomerate BRF Brasil Foods to become the latest Latin American company to add a local currency tranche to an international issue as it printed nearly $750m-equivalent of bonds on Wednesday.

Of the $43bn of total demand that Petrobras attracted for its $11bn bond, as expected the $3.5bn 10 year tranche attracted the largest book, of $13.6bn. In an interesting contrast with Apple’s $17bn deal a fortnight ago, demand for the 30 year tranche was also strong – more than four times greater than the $1.75bn size at $7.5bn.

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