Latin America

Recent hints from Ecuador’s finance minister Carlos de la Torre that the South American sovereign is considering a euro-denominated bond issue should be met with caution, according to a report from Quito-based Analytica Investments.

After yet another quiet day in Latin American bond markets on Monday, syndicate bankers said that the return of new issuance after a more than two week hiatus would likely commence after two key speeches from Jay Powell, the new US Federal Reserve chair.

Colombia’s bonds have hardly moved in secondaries since Moody’s placed its Baa2 rating on negative outlook last week, although the sovereign’s debt had already widened heavily over the last few weeks.

Venezuela’s cryptocurrency plans were met with a dismissive reaction from Lat Am bond market participants this week, who questioned the value of any currency issued by the defaulting government.

At least two Latin American borrowers opted to delay new issue announcements this week as syndicate bankers suggested the names in the pipeline would be more demanding on pricing than their CEEMEA counterparts that did issue.

Venezuela has become the first sovereign nation to launch a cryptocurrency. While few outside Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s administration are impressed by the pioneering venture, others are expected to follow suit nonetheless, write Lewis McLellan, Costas Mourselas and Oliver West.

A new study of green bond pricing has stopped short of saying that green bond issuers can generally expect to get tighter new issue premiums. But the report’s lead author did say: “Green bond buyers can’t expect to receive a new issue premium — that is itself quite a bold statement.”

US market volatility has kept Latin American primary bonds silent for nine straight business after what had been a record start to the year. But even though EM borrowers from other parts of the world are this week pricing deals, Lat Am bankers are in no hurry to bring new debt issuance from the region while the volatility persists.

The new bond issues may be flowing in emerging markets, but after weeks of volatility, the era of easy execution is over.

South America’s smallest nation, Suriname, suffered a rating downgrade late on Tuesday, due to Moody’s fears of a further erosion in the country’s fiscal metrics.

We are excited to announce that the GlobalCapital Bond Awards Poll is now open.

Banco Supervielle, the Argentine lender, is looking to increase the size of its existing bond shelf from $800m to $2.3bn, according to a regulatory filing.