Latin America

Financial services firm XP, which Moody’s describes as aiming to “disrupt the business model of incumbent banking institutions in Brazil”, is meeting fixed income investors ahead of a potential debut international bond issue 18 months after it priced an IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Bondholders of Mexican payroll lender AlphaCredit are facing very low recoveries, say credit analysts, after the company failed to pay a $15m coupon payment due on June 19 on its senior secured 2022s.

Mexican car parts maker Nemak is looking to become the latest Latin American company to issue a sustainability-linked bond, having begun investor meetings on Monday. Like other LatAm SLB issuers from the sector, Nemak is including a coupon step-up linked to Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions — though the company has a separate target to reduce its far more significant Scope 3 emissions.

Braskem, the Brazilian petrochemicals company downgraded to junk last year, will use cash to repurchase over $230m of bonds as it reduces its debt ratio to regain investment grade status.

Latin America bond market participants saw signs this week that risk appetite is waning, with recent deals under par in secondary markets. Added to a more hawkish stance from the US Federal Reserve, bankers and investors expect issuance from the region to slow.

Brazilian food company BRF said on Wednesday that it is giving bondholders more time to participate in a tender offer for a portion of its global bonds maturing in 2030.

The government of Suriname on Tuesday accused its bondholders of taking an “unconstructive and confrontational stance” after the creditor committee had on Monday opted to exercise an option that allowed them to cancel the payment relief previously offered to the sovereign.

Mastellone Hermanos, the largest dairy company in Argentina, has fallen short of getting the bondholder support it needs for its proposed distressed exchange offer. The borrower, which is dealing with the fallout from capital controls in its home country, needs the support of another 1.47% of its bondholders to proceed with the offer.

Light, the fifth largest energy distributor in Brazil, issued $600m of five year bonds on Tuesday to wrap up a hectic period of LatAm high yield issuance. But the primary market is likely to take at least a one day pause as recent issues trade softly and the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concludes a two day meeting on Wednesday.

Brazilian meatpacker JBS made an apparently impressive entry into the world of ESG debt last week with a well received sustainability-linked bond (SLB). While an SLB is an encouraging first step for a company that has for years been under the scrutiny of environmental campaigners, the KPIs in the deal cover a fraction of the company’s emissions, and the deal shows investors need be tougher on SLB issuers if the format is to have value.

Credit Suisse has hired from a European rival to lead its Brazil DCM efforts as it edges up the LatAm bookrunner league tables.

SierraCol Energy, the Carlyle Group-owned spin-off of Occidental Petroleum’s onshore operations in Colombia, sold its inaugural international bond issue on Monday to continue a surge in LatAm high yield issuance — though some bankers felt the underwhelming aftermarket performance of other recent borrowers affected the deal.