Latin America

Brazil’s first attempt to reduce the pension burden at the heart of its fiscal problem impressed analysts on Wednesday, though it did little to lift bond prices with many investors having already taken a bullish view on the prospects of reform.

Pemex's bonds were again the most under-performing in Latin America markets on Tuesday as investors continue to punish the company for last Friday’s apparently underwhelming government support package.

Latin America's primary bond market has had its slowest start for nine years despite strong appetite for emerging market debt. This has presented an unexpected opportunity for issuers, and those from Brazil are best placed to take advantage.

Investors should beware the surge in Brazilian equities that coincided with the election of its new president Jair Bolsonaro last year.

BTG Pactual has appointed Brazil’s most recent finance minister to become CEO of its asset management business following the hire of a BlackRock veteran to lead its equities business.

Dutch asset manager NN Investment Partners will open a new office in Montevideo, Uruguay on February 25 to service Latin American and US offshore clients, the company said on Friday.

Pemex bond prices slid further on Friday after analysts said Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s measures to support the state oil giant would not be enough to prevent continued deterioration in its credit quality.

BTG Pactual’s new tier two bonds, the only new issue from Latin America this week, traded pretty much in line with reoffer in the days following pricing, suggesting leads had done a reasonable job of price discovery.

Brazilian lender BTG Pactual was the sole Latin American borrower to venture into dollar markets this week as some syndicate bankers began to worry that the region’s issuers are missing the best of conditions.

Chilean copper miner Codelco looks unlikely to be able to repurchase the $1.907bn of bonds that it was hoping to cancel via a tender offer after investors holding just over half of that amount agreed to sell their paper after the early-bird period expired.

The international capital market welcomed a new supranational borrower on Monday when Bolivia-based Fonplata issued a debut Sfr150m five year bond via Credit Suisse and UBS.

The International Monetary Fund and Ecuador confirmed this week that they were discussing a potential financial arrangement, and the positive reaction in the sovereign’s curve could have further to run.