Latin America

Undeterred by continued volatility in the region, Brazilian company Suzano Papel e Celulose will seek to break an extended hiatus in Latin American cross-border bond issuance next week. Market participants say it is the ideal credit to restart primary activity.

President Mauricio Macri’s announcement on Wednesday that Argentina had asked the IMF to bring forward some disbursements of its $50bn stand-by agreement could not arrest a slide in the peso or government debt.

Brazilian company Suzano Papel e Celulose will seek to break an extended hiatus in Latin American cross-border bond issuance next week, having enlisted a posse of 13 bookrunners to help it finance an acquisition that will turn it into the world’s leading producer of market pulp.

Banco Santander’s Chilean yesterday sold the first ever floating rate note in Chilean pesos, raising Ps75bn ($114m) in long three year notes.

Bonds from major Mexican issuers tightened on Monday after the USA and Mexico announced a preliminary bilateral trade to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).

Venezuela's petro seems destined to hang around like a bad smell rather than drifting into obscurity, as it deserves to. The country's president Nicolás Maduro has made it the basis of his country’s economy. It is an utter farce.

New US sanctions announcements on Russia, chatter around new IMF financing for Angola and a desperate economic recovery plan in Venezuela are keeping those emerging market portfolio managers still at their desks busy. But low volumes are playing havoc with EM secondary levels as traders embrace the quietest trading week of the summer.

Venezuela has adopted a radical approach in its attempt to rein in its out-of-control economy, effectively devaluing its currency by almost 96% and pegging the value to Venezuela’s oil-backed pseudo-cryptocurrency — widely considered a scam.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Ecuador from B to B- on the back of its rapidly rising debt burden, even though the country finally has a finance minister popular with bond investors.

The drought in Latin American new issuance stretched to six weeks by Thursday, but DCM bankers are now more concerned by prospects for September after contagion from Turkey hit Lat Am assets this week.

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA saw its 8.5% 2020s drift back upwards this week after taking a hit on the back of a US court ruling that caused some concern about bondholders’ ability to claim their collateral.

Another month, another set of headlines to scare even the most resolute of EM investors. Yet it is nearly time for Latin American primary markets to make a comeback, and issuers shouldn't let their plans get derailed.