Latin America

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.

Syndicate bankers say that larger than normal new issue concessions being paid by US investment-grade corporates in bond markets mean Latin American borrowers are in no rush to get the year started.

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 airline Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes is set to continue its deleveraging process as it looks to repurchase the remainder of its bonds due in 2022.

No Latin American borrowers dared to announce bond plans in the short first working week of 2019, but a flurry of pre-Christmas requests for proposals and the prospect of habitual January issuers tapping was enough to make syndicate bankers chirpier.

El Salvador’s Congress has approved the issuance of new external debt to enable it to refinance debt due later this year. That will mean one fewer headaches for whoever wins next month’s presidential elections.