Latin America

Santander’s Chilean arm on Tuesday joined the early wave of dollar issuers from the country, pricing a $750m five senior unsecured bond 2bp inside where state-owned Banco del Estado de Chile sold an identical trade a day earlier.

Termocandelaria Power Limited, the Colombian generation company, is seeking to add up to $200m to its existing bonds and has mandated two banks to lead the reopening.

The world’s largest copper producer, Codelco, returned to bond markets on Tuesday with a well received $2bn dual tranche as predictions that Chilean issuers would be very active in January begin to look very accurate.

A strong response to its tender offer allowed Mexico to increase the size of its new 10 year issued on Monday from $1.75bn to $3.05bn late on in the evening as bankers say that the deal shows investors are calm about the country’s prospects.

Coca-Cola Femsa, the world’s largest franchised Coca-Cola bottler, is looking to sell new bonds to fund a buy-back of existing debt as Latin America issuers waste no time in taking advantage of a liquidity-rich bond market.

State-owned lender Banco del Estado de Chile (Banco Estado) kicked off what could be a busy January for Chilean issuance with a $750m five year senior unsecured deal on Monday.

Chile’s head of international finance has told GlobalCapital that the debt management office is making communication with investors its number one priority as it announced borrowing plans — including an atypically large amount of international issuance — earlier than usual after a turbulent fourth quarter.

Banco Pichincha has become Ecuador’s first green bond issuer, after selling $150m of notes that were bought by three international development lenders.

Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig said last week that it would redeem $446m of bonds issued three years ago, to improve its debt profile.

Suriname’s outstanding 2026s traded up this week, after the government clinched $125m of short-term financing that includes coupon payment support for existing bonds and lays the ground for fiscal savings via an electricity reform.

Latin American bond bankers are reporting busy January pipelines as issuers look to take advantage of low rates before the US election season hits next year.

Big European investment banks pivoted towards the Americas during 2019 in an attempt to boost revenues and position themselves for the next downturn, writes David Rothnie. With large M&A across the industry still off the table, banks are finding scale through joint ventures and alliances.