Latin America

Mexico’s new head of public credit, Gabriel Yorio, has told GlobalCapital investors were receptive to the government’s messages, after it received hefty demand for its first bond issue since Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office as president on December 1.

Caribbean telecoms group Digicel has finally wrapped up a distressed debt exchange to avoid a potential default next year, after extended negotiations with bondholders. But Fitch warned on Monday that the move has “undermined” the group’s position with creditors.

Brazilian building materials company Votorantim Cimentos is looking to buy back up to $650m of outstanding bonds using funds that its parent company is set to receive from the sale of its stake in pulp and paper company Fibria.

Latin American bond bankers were urging issuers to head to market on Thursday after Mexico and Uruguay emphatically showed there was strong appetite for new paper.

Uruguay said that the government had covered nearly all of its debt maturities for 2019 after the sovereign became the first issuer from Latin America to tap international bond markets this year.

Bond buyers gave Mexico’s new government a vote of confidence on Wednesday as they piled into the first bond deal from the sovereign since Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Amlo) became president.

If any of Latin America’s larger sovereigns spent the first half of January lingering on the sidelines not wanting to pay up for being the region’s first issuer in 2019, their angst was misplaced.

Caribbean telecoms group Digicel has finally wrapped up a distressed debt exchange to avoid a potential default next year, after extended negotiations with bondholders. But Fitch warned on Monday that the move has 'undermined' the group’s position with creditors.

Brazilian building materials company Votorantim Cimentos is looking to buy back up to $650m of outstanding bonds using funds that its parent company is set to receive from the sale of pulp and paper company Fibria, due to go through on January 14.

Colombian company TermoCandelaria Power Limited (TPL) finally injected some intention to the Latin American primary bond market with a roadshow announcement, but bankers continue seeking a candidate to be the first to raise funding.

Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras began the year finalising yet another buy-back of existing bonds, though the response from bondholders fell below the $1.5bn maximum repurchase amount set by the borrower.

Brazilian bank BTG Pactual is asking holders of its perpetual bonds issued in 2014 to agree to a new indenture that allows the lender to change the issuing branch of the notes.