Latin America

TV Azteca, the broadcaster owned by Mexico’s third richest man Ricardo Salinas Pliego, missed a coupon payment on a $400m bond on Tuesday, leaving some concerned about the implications for other Grupo Salinas-controlled bond issuers.

Uruguay’s dollar bonds are hot property, but the sovereign is planning to focus its international bond issuance efforts on its domestic currency in 2021 as it looks to develop the peso market and increase the share of its debt burden in the currency.

EM bond buyers gave Guara Norte, a special purpose vehicle for Brazilian floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Cidade de Ilhabela, a warm welcome on its first bond market outing as investors say that emerging market high yield corporates offer the best chance for outperformance.

Argentine oil and gas company YPF amended its proposed bond exchange for the fourth time on Sunday evening, again upping the cash payment for holders of its March 2021s in a move that the issuer says has the support of the most stubborn group of bondholders.

Peruvian government-owned oil company Petroperu clinched most of the remaining financing of the long-awaited modernisation of its Talara refinery on Thursday, opting to reopen bonds first issued three years ago at a high dollar price rather than place a new benchmark.

Brazilian auto parts supplier Tupy and Peruvian mining company Volcán became the latest in a string of Latin American high yield companies to take advantage of extremely welcoming bond markets to improve their maturity profiles.

Bonds issued by Argentine oil and gas company YPF were up and down this week before ending largely flat as the company failed to find a consensus among investors regarding its proposed exchange offer. A March 23 maturity payment looms large.

DCM bankers said that more Lat Am borrowers who postponed bond issues last year could be tempted into a welcoming market after customer relationship management (CRM) company Atento picked a strong day to refinance a 2022 maturity.

A highly diversified order book allowed the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) to tighten pricing on its first ever benchmark social bond on Wednesday, with the multilateral lender raising $500m of five-year money.

Fonplata, the South American supranational development bank, raised Sfr200m ($222m) of 5.5-year bonds in the Swiss franc market on Wednesday, increasing the size of the deal from an initially planned Sfr150m.

After receiving a strong response to a cash tender offer for its only previous international bond, Brazilian waterway logistics services provider Hidrovias do Brasil notched an eight times subscribed order book on its way to a $500m 10-year non-call five deal on Wednesday.

Mexican quasi-sovereign Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) offered little to no concession on its first 144A/Reg S deal since 2016 on Tuesday, attracting a broad range of investors to an order book that peaked above $10bn.