Calyon is increasing its presence in the Latin American syndicated loan market and has brought Rodrigo Gracia on board from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in New York. Gracia will serve as v.p. for Calyon's loan syndication group and will specialize in Latin American transactions reporting to Peter Kelly, managing director of the sales and trading team. "Over the last 18 months we have been increasing our presence in the Latin American market and will continue to do so and we believed it was appropriate to bring in somebody to help us in that endeavor," Kelly said.
"As a whole the banks have become much more aggressive and they are willing to lend," Kelly noted, adding, such aggressiveness has created a more liquid market for corporations, which have been able refinance at lower rates. "[The] lower prices and extended tenors have created a lot of activity," he said. Earlier this year, Petroleos Mexicanos inked a new $1.25 billion revolver benefiting from larger tenors and lower pricing (LMW, 8/2). Meanwhile, Cemex recently obtained a $5.3 billion multicurrency facility, the largest loan ever syndicated for a Mexican company. The loan is being arranged by Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and is being used to finance the acquisition of RMC Group.
Calyon's main focus in the region is Mexico, Chile and Brazil, Kelly noted, though the French bank does look at other countries. Calyon is very active in the region and has significant interest to be an even stronger player, Gracia said. "We hope to position ourselves, to move up the ranking and will continue to position to do so, but it is a very competitive market," Kelly noted. Gracia, who is from Mexico and studied in the U.S., Europe, and Mexico, has extensive experience dealing with the local banks in the region, said Kelly. He will be responsible for structuring and distributing loans. Gracia served previously as a v.p. in the Latin American debt capital markets group at Dresdner. Calyon is currently seventh in Latin American syndicated loans for the first half 2004. Eugenia Wilds, head of loan syndication for Latin America at Dresdner, did not return calls by press time.