South America

Public holidays in the US and UK gave bond markets an extra 24 hours to digest the results of Sunday’s presidential election in Colombia, though analysts are expecting little change as the first round of the vote went as expected.

Hunt Oil Company of Peru on Thursday sold the largest dollar-denominated bond deal from a Latin American issuer this month. Syndicate bankers took the deal as a positive even though investors said the issuer had been generous with pricing.

Nicolás Maduro’s comfortable and predicted victory in Sunday’s highly questioned presidential elections in Venezuela has reaffirmed the view of many bondholders that improvements in the crisis-stricken country are some way off.

Petrobras yet again asked certain bondholders to reduce their exposure to the company via a tender offer this week — and a sell-off in the Brazilian company’s bonds, after it announced a temporary cut in diesel prices, is likely to help the cause.

South American development bank CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento) sold its first ever green bond this week, raising Ps150bn ($52.2m) of Colombian peso-denominated bonds.

South American development bank CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento) sold its first ever green bond this week, raising Ps150bn ($52.2m) of Colombian peso-denominated bonds.

Latin America syndicate bankers are dreading a moribund primary bond market this week despite the fact there are borrowers interested in issuing.

Nicolás Maduro’s comfortable and predicted victory in Sunday’s highly-questioned presidential elections in Venezuela have strengthened the president’s grip on power and reaffirmed the view of many bondholders that improvements in the crisis-stricken country are some way off.

Brazilian oil and gas giant Petrobras is asking certain bondholders to sell their paper in what would be its second $4bn tender offer of 2018.

All three major rating agencies gave a green light to Brazilian meatpacker JBS’s recent refinancing last week, saying that the new agreement with its lenders meant a significant improvement in the company’s liquidity position.

Two prospective bond issuers from Latin America cancelled their fundraising plans this week as external conditions raise borrowing costs for EM issuers.

Chilean state owned lender BancoEstado raised $200m-equivalent of debt in Asian markets this week to reach the half way mark of its $1.6bn medium-term funding needs for the year.