LatAm Bonds

Brazilian food group BRF wrapped up a now rare cash tender for existing bonds on Friday, buying back just under $300m of debt.

Government-owned lender Banco Nacional de Panamá could debut in bond markets this week after mandating for a Reg S-only guaranteed deal, GlobalCapital understands.

Latin American bond bankers say they expect new issuance to come at a calmer pace for the next few weeks, with just two Brazilian companies the only borrowers from the region to venture into primary markets this week.

Ecuador publicly took on dissenting bondholders this week, after a debt restructuring that some major institutional investors consider to be exemplary proved to be not to everyone’s liking.

Banco BV, the banking arm of Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim, raised $500m of five year senior unsecured bonds on Wednesday in a deal well supported by retail, local and Brazilian bank buyers as well as the usual EM-dedicated institutional accounts.

Panama’s second largest bank, Banistmo, is planning a first international bond issue in nearly three years, according to rating agency reports.

A group of institutional investors owning Belize’s $526.5m of 2034 bonds said on Thursday that they would support an effort by the government to capitalise the next three coupon payments due on the bond. But some analysts say payment delays are unlikely to cure the country’s debt woes.

Telecom Argentina is adding a sale of new bonds to an exchange offer in what would be the first Argentine new issue in international bond markets in over a year.

Martín Guzmán, Argentina’s finance minister, was not to be budged from his position on the country’s debt restructuring offer on Monday evening even as three groups of creditors signed a cooperation agreement to jointly express their rejection of the government’s latest offer.

Just weeks after rating agencies stripped the issuer of its investment grade rating, Brazilian petrochemicals giant Braskem sold $600m of hybrid bonds that bankers said showed the company’s commitment to its credit metrics.

Monday’s official launch of Ecuador’s debt restructuring offer split the bond markets, with large creditors claiming that the sovereign had set an example to be followed while others dismissed its approach as “aggressive” and that it set a “harmful precedent”.

Mexican real estate investment trust Fibra Uno returned to the bond markets on Wednesday to price a postponed tap of its 2030 and 2050 notes.