Latin America

Bankers said that Brazilian bank BTG Pactual achieved tighter pricing on its green bond than it would have done on a conventional bond, after it became the first Latin American private sector bank to issue such a benchmark in US markets.

Nueva Elektra del Milenio, the company that operates the retail store and money transfer businesses of Mexico’s Grupo Elektra, will begin virtual meetings with bond investors on Wednesday as it looks to sell a senior secured bond collateralised by remittance flows originated in the US.

Brazilian bank BTG Pactual became the third Latin American issuer to announce plans to issue ESG-related debt this year after it mandated for a potential senior unsecured green bond.

Mexico reopened the international bond market for EM borrowers on Monday by issuing the first Formosa bond from a Latin American sovereign in response to interest from Asian investors.

Brazil paper company Klabin began calls with investors on Monday as it looks to become the second Brazilian company to sell a sustainability-linked bond. The size of the potential coupon step-up differs depending on which of three sustainability performance indicators Klabin might fail to meet.

Banco Santander has become the 14th primary dealer in the domestic Colombian government bond market, said the finance ministry, representing the first expansion of the sovereign’s market makers since 2016.

Latin America’s largest e-commerce company, MercadoLibre, has mandated five banks ahead of a debut bond offering that will include one tranche of sustainable bonds.

Mexico returned to familiar territory by becoming the first Latin American borrower of the year to issue bonds on Monday. The format, however, was less familiar, as the 50 year SEC-registered $3bn bond — launched at around 11am New York time — will be listed on the stock exchanges of both Luxembourg and Taipei.

Gol, Brazil’s largest domestic airline, has priced a $200m six year private placement. This is one of the first deals from a Latin American airliner since the pandemic struck, and comes after a number of peers in the region have fallen into bankruptcy.

Equity investors have begun in recent months to allocate capital away from some of the high growth firms which dominated equity capital market supply this year to more cyclical companies that are set to benefit when economies reopen from Covid-19 lockdowns. They are also looking to buy into emerging markets, predicting rising equity valuations in places like Russia and some parts of Latin America.

In what is likely to have been the final Latin America new bond issue of 2020, Paraguayan beef exporter Frigorífico Concepción added $21m to its January 2025s in a small tap on Friday.

Despite funding stresses in certain Latin American countries, bond markets will continue to help the region with its financing needs. For now, this eases the pressure for reform and fiscal consolidation, but issuers must eventually face up to political and social turbulence. Oliver West reports.