Latin America

Debt capital markets bankers covering Mexico do not expect the resignation of finance minister Carlos Urzúa on Tuesday to affect incoming bond issues though they acknowledge that his departure could create uncertainty.

Two Mexican companies announced bond roadshows on Monday, in combination with buybacks of 2022 notes, as Latin American borrowers continue to try to use liability management to take advantage of low rates to refinance debt.

While US market participants were on holiday last week, Brazil’s lower house passed legislation that is central to bond investors’ optimistic thesis on Latin America’s largest economy.

Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras is to continue its deleveraging process by using cash to buy back up to $3bn of existing bonds, giving first priority to euro and sterling paper.

Two Latin American companies announced bond roadshows this week, with a third launching a tender that will require a new issue, as the region’s issuers flock to the low rate environment and gradually rehabilitate disappointing issuance volumes.

Pampa Energía followed YPF into the international bond markets on Tuesday as Argentine issuers returned after a 14 month hiatus. Investors believe there is scope for certain corporates and even provinces from the country to take advantage of renewed market access.

The Latin America primary bond market was quiet this week thanks to dollar investors instead enjoying the US Independence Day holiday, but bankers say sentiment is at its strongest at least since January 2018 as several of the region’s issuers lined up roadshows.

It has been a sensational couple of weeks in emerging markets, with money flooding in and asset prices climbing ever higher, but the influx of new money is driving down yields further than some investors feel is justified.

Colombian utility Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) will begin fixed-income investor meetings on Thursday and could issue dollar bonds for the first time in 10 years as part of a $1bn-equivalent deal to refinance debt.

Mexican leasing company Docuformas is likely to turn to bond markets in the coming weeks, GlobalCapital understands, after announcing a tender offer and consent solicitation for its existing notes.

Bond market participants in Argentina say that more issuers from the country could look to pre-empt election-related uncertainty and take advantage of benign fundraising conditions after Pampa Energía followed in YPF’s footsteps with a 10 year deal on Tuesday.

Bond investors will have a chance to give a further indication of their appetite for Argentine risk as Pampa Energía looks to follow in YPF’s steps and continue to reactivate the primary markets from the country.