Latin America

Cemex tightened its latest deal by over 50bp from initial price thoughts as the Mexican cement company was rewarded for a conservative starting strategy with a well-oversubscribed book.

Latin American debt bankers could not hide their delight on Wednesday evening after a remarkable day in new issue activity that included two heavily oversubscribed deals from high yield issuers that traded up in the grey.

State-owned oil giant Pemex became the second Mexican company to raise euro denominated debt this week, following the same strategy it took in dollars earlier in the year by focussing on the short end of the curve.

Emerging market investors have plenty of opportunity to pick up corporate debt this week with Mexican oil and gas giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) returning to euros and Koc Holding in dollars.

The Province of Buenos Aires is likely to provide an early test of appetite for Argentine credit on Wednesday after completing a roadshow with Citi, HSBC and JP Morgan.

Mexican cement firm, Cemex has persuaded its banks to change the leverage covenants on its $1.9bn credit facility after its business suffered in the wake of exchange rate volatility and crashing oil prices.

Mexican telecoms giant América Móvil become the first private sector firm from Latin America to issue international bonds on Monday, raising €1.5bn of euro-denominated paper with a tighter new issue premium than most of the region’s sovereigns have managed recently.

América Móvil, the Mexican telecommunications firm, took advantage of a rally in emerging market debt to open books on its debut euro-denominated bond with a tight concession on Monday.

The arrest of former Brazilian president Lula da Silva gave new urgency to a strong rally in Brazilian bonds on Friday after the market appeared to take the detention as a sign that president Dilma Rousseff was closer to impeachment.

Latin America’s pain is Argentina’s gain. A torrid year for bond markets and economic struggles across the region have set the stage perfectly for Argentina — so long the sick man of Latin America — to return to international bond markets with an audacious trade.

Banco Santander Chile will buy back more bonds than originally planned after its tender offer was fully subscribed before the early tender deadline on March 1.

Colombia on Wednesday became the second Latin American issuer this week to announce a European roadshow, although the sovereign is understood to be still pondering over the currency of its next bond.