LatAm Bonds

The ghost of Christmas past visited the US high grade market this week. Although everyone had predicted a thin week to end a calamitous year, the market suddenly, unexpectedly and uncharacteristically was blessed with enormous appetite for often the most unlikely of borrowers.

The United Mexican States sprung an end of year surprise raid on the sleepy Latin American debt markets yesterday when it priced a $2bn 10 year bond. The first emerging markets sovereign issue since September took advantage of historically low yields on US Treasuries to print with a coupon of 5.95%.

GMAC Financial Services has had to extend the deadline of its exchange and tender offer, which it hoped would allow it to transform itself into a bank holding company and give it access to US government emergency funding.