LatAm Bonds

With the savage sell-off in peripheral eurozone sovereigns nearing a point of no return after Germany’s demand that the burden of debt restructuring be shared, bankers are calling for Ireland — where the government could soon lose its majority and Eu50bn-Eu60bn of guaranteed bank debt must be rolled over — to activate the nuclear option of dumping its banks to save itself.

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Banco Votorantim brought its debut Swiss franc deal to market on Wednesday morning, a Sfr250m three year. Sole bookrunner Deutsche Bank priced the deal 204bp over swaps, beating Votorantim’s dollar funding costs in the three year tenor. The issuer is the first Brazilian issuer to do a Swiss franc deal since 1995.

One of Latin America’s biggest ever infrastructure bonds could signal a new wave of project financings via the capital markets, according to bankers.

Chile’s state-owned copper miner harnessed the feel-good factor around the country, as well as its strong credit, to achieve what bankers claimed was the lowest ever pricing for a Latin American corporate or quasi-sovereign.

Cosan signalled a new phase in the LatAm corporate perpetual bond market on Monday when the Brazilian ethanol, sugar and energy conglomerate raised $300m from a non-call five 8.25% deal. Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan arranged the Ba2/BB rated issue.

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The sterling market welcomed a rare issue from the World Bank this week, which took advantage of improving arbitrage into dollars and scarce supply to launch its first sterling benchmark bond since early 2008.