Latin America

Just over 100 days since Ivan Duque took office as Colombia’s president, the South American country has appointed a new head of public credit and national treasury.

Frontera Energy Corporation, the Canada-listed Colombian oil and gas company, is asking bondholders permission to make payments otherwise forbidden by the terms of its outstanding debt.

Brazilian mining giant Vale has launched its third public tender offer for outstanding international bonds, seeking to continue to cut its debt by buying back $1bn of notes.

The government of Bermuda could issue a new dollar benchmark this week, as it seeks to finance the buy-back of up to $424m of existing bonds.

Three Latin American bond issuers made it through new issue markets this week, but bond bankers were hardly confident about the prospects for the rest of the year, as investors remain uneasy about adding risk.

Despite volatile market conditions, which usually make local currency issuance a tough sell, some bond investors say they have their eyes peeled for a Peruvian government nuevo sol trade after the sovereign completed a buy-back of dollar debt on Tuesday.

Pulp and paper producer Suzano Papel e Celulose raised $500m of 30 year debt on Tuesday, two months after first mooting the idea, putting it closer to completing the financing of its takeover of fellow Brazilian company Fibria.

Lat Am bond bankers did not seem overly worried about their Mexican deal pipeline despite bond markets being shocked by the cancellation of Mexico City’s new airport last week.

A semblance of stability in Latin American bond prices allowed Panama City’s airport, Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, to become the second credit from the region in two days to tap dollar markets.

Bonds issued to build Mexico City’s now cancelled new airport have risen from last week’s lows after as analysts declared the risk of default to be very low after the incoming president met with airport contractors on Monday.

A pair of rare euro bonds from sovereign emerging markets borrowers hit the market this week, much to the approval of investors who said the deals provided “good value”.

Despite volatile market conditions that usually make local currency issuance a tough sell, some bond investors say they have their eyes peeled for a Peruvian nuevo sol trade after the sovereign completed the buy-back of dollar debt on Tuesday.