Latin America

Aberdeen Standard Investments, the asset manager with over £450bn ($625m) of assets under management, has hired an emerging markets economist from research firm Capital Economics.

Minerva and Marfrig, the Brazilian meatpacking rivals, said on Monday that they would prepay dollar bonds as part of continued efforts to reduce leverage.

The International Monetary Fund said in the concluding statement of last week’s Article IV mission to Belize that the government needs to restructure its debts to restore public debt sustainability, leaving bondholders bracing for a fifth credit event since 2007.

Fitch downgraded Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca from C to restricted default (RD) on Friday after the 30 day grace period expired on a missed coupon payment. The rating agency is forecasting recoveries for bondholders in the 31%-50% range.

Faltering momentum in Latin American bond issuance has put this year's unprecedented surge of green and sustainable deals on pause. But even if volatility persists, as global bond markets deal with rising US interest rates, LatAm issuers will not only maintain their focus on ESG, but they may find sustainability credentials are more valuable than ever.

Peruvian food retail and pharmacy group InRetail Consumer took advantage of calmer markets and the scarcity value of Peruvian corporates to achieve higher oversubscription and greater pricing compression than any Latin American new issue since February 18. on the way to a $600m seven year on Thursday.

As financial institutions across asset classes raised gender-themed funding this week, Colombia’s vice-president Marta Lucía Ramirez took International Women’s Day as a chance to hail the potential of the sovereign using bond markets to fund its gender equality initiatives.

As Colombia works on the initial stages of developing a social bond framework, the sovereign has identified gender and immigration as two of its key pillars.

Chilean cable company VTR brought life to the Latin America primary bond market on Wednesday, but the company was unable to tighten its new senior-secured eight-year deal beyond guidance as markets are remaining functional but cautious in the face of rising US Treasury yields, said bankers.

Holders of more than 96% of Entre Rios bonds participated in a consent solicitation that will grant the issuer debt relief and see creditors abandon legal action, leaving just three Argentine provinces in default.

Covid-19 has made combining market-friendly economic policy with retaining popular support even trickier than usual for Latin America's politicians. In turn, it has become harder for bondholders to read the political tea leaves when weighing up where their money is best parked. For instance, investors who once loved Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil are now high-tailing it to other markets, including El Salvador, where another populist has just won power. In a busy year for LatAm elections, and with the pandemic still raging, allocating capital in the region's bond markets will be trickier than usual.

InRetail Peru Corp is looking to issue a $750m bond through its consumer division in an attempt to offer buyers greater liquidity and more diversified credit exposure than its previous bond issues, which have never exceeded $400m.