Latin America

Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol has hired María Fernanda Suárez Londoño, a former head of the country’s public credit unit, as corporate vice-president of finance and strategy.

Brazil’s rapidly falling currency may be a symptom of ever increasing economic pain in Latin America’s largest economy, but it is lending a helping hand to the country’s exporters — in particular food company BR Foods (BRF).

Iochpe Maxion, the Brazilian group that makes more vehicle wheels than any other company in the world via its Maxion Wheels division, said on Friday that it is considering turning to cross-border bond markets for financing.

Spain is often held up as an example of how austerity works, and Markit data published on August 5 provides some support to this view.

Mexican building materials company Cemex, has signed $3.79bn of loans including a €620m tranche after an upgrade to BB- from Fitch.

Bond market participants were left pondering whether the sell-off in Brazilian assets had been exaggerated after a negative outlook from Standard & Poor’s triggered a rally and stabilisation in credit spreads in the country.

With emerging market currencies taking a battering across the globe, local currency bond issues continue to be a tough ask. However, innovations in the Mexican market are providing an encouraging grounding for future deals.

Credit default swaps referencing Brazil hit their widest levels of the year this week, with the continuing crash in commodities weighing heavily on those names most exposed and adding to a raft of other woes for the country.

The recent commodity downturn has sent LatAm corporate bond yields surging, just as the US looks set to raise interest rates.

Opsimex, the telecoms tower spin-off of Mexican giant América Móvil, could issue in dollars as soon as Thursday if market conditions are good enough after completing a Ps15bn ($920m) local market bond sale on Wednesday.

CEEMEA supply is stumbling, with the week’s tally at one deal priced and one deal pulled. But Latin American offers hope of more fresh paper, with Mexican, Brazilian and Caribbean corporates all readying deals.

Brazil and Standard & Poor’s rating actions have a peculiar relationship. In March 2014, S&P downgraded the sovereign to BBB- but the bond market subsequently rallied as the rating agency offered a stable — rather than negative — outlook.