Latin America

All three major rating agencies gave a green light to Brazilian meatpacker JBS’s recent refinancing last week, saying that the new agreement with its lenders meant a significant improvement in the company’s liquidity position.

Two prospective bond issuers from Latin America cancelled their fundraising plans this week as external conditions raise borrowing costs for EM issuers.

Chilean state owned lender BancoEstado raised $200m-equivalent of debt in Asian markets this week to reach the half way mark of its $1.6bn medium-term funding needs for the year.

Mexican state owned oil company Pemex (Petróleos Mexicanos) raised €3.15bn ($3.722bn) across four tranches on Wednesday to provide some relief to a bruised and battered Lat Am bond market.

Pemex’s annual European outing on Wednesday came as a pleasant surprise to many Lat Am bond bankers, showing Lat Am issuers still have significant pulling power. But the euro market is unlikely to pull more borrowers from the region, even as dollar funding costs rocket.

Unigel, the Brazilian petrochemicals company, completed an inaugural international bond sale on Tuesday in a deal with a highly targeted distribution after drastically sweetening terms for investors.

Peruvian agricultural company Camposol cancelled a proposed tender offer for existing bonds on Monday evening after failing to raise the debt required to finance the buyback.

Unigel, the Brazilian petrochemicals company, has set initial price thoughts on a planned inaugural international bond two months after it aborted a first attempt.

Colombia’s highest rated issuer, Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), is in danger of a downgrade after troubles in the construction of its planned Ituango hydroelectric plant, the largest infrastructure project in the country.

No Latin America companies issued and just one announced bond plans this week as an EM currency slump sent shivers through the market, but investors said the market was far from shut.

Argentinian president Mauricio Macri’s politically bold but economically astute move to approach the IMF for financing lifted bond prices on Thursday, but markets are continuing to digest a shock period of volatility that has caused drastic reassessments of emerging market debt’s standout story in recent years. Olly West reports.

The last two weeks have been the toughest in recent memory for emerging market bond investors who have seen their assets in local currencies and dollars alike take a hammering amid the collapse in the Argentine peso and Turkish lira.