South America

The City of Buenos Aires has sold a Ps7.1bn ($403m) domestic peso-denominated floating rate note to a mixture of international and local investors, according to bankers close to the deal.

Coupon payments on Venezuela, PDVSA and Electricidad de Caracas (Elecar) trickled in late this week, leaving markets feeling calmer after an unconstructive but scare-free meeting between the government and a small number of bondholders.

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas returned to bond markets for the first time in nearly four years on Tuesday with a tight deal that performed well in secondary.

Despite the end of the year fast approaching, and Venezuela’s debt saga challenging buy-side patience, investors have at least one more major test with Nigeria marketing the first sub-Saharan African 30 year sovereign bond away from South Africa.

Entre Ríos kept Argentine bond issuance ticking over on Tuesday with a $150m tap of its 8.75% 2025s first issued in February.

Those hoping that Monday would bring clarity to the confusion surrounding Venezuela’s debt situation were out of luck as a meeting between the government and some bondholders offered no clues as to the country’s strategy.

The City of Buenos Aires is likely to sell a peso-denominated bond to both domestic and international investors mid to late this week, according to a banker with knowledge of the deal.

Investors and bond market analysts said that PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, was on the verge of a messy default after making its latest principal payment nearly a week late and in various stages.

The more we learn, the less we know about what happens next when it comes to Venezuelan debt.

Brazilian pulp and paper producer Suzano Papel e Celulose is looking to buy back a further $300m of its existing 2021s, just a month after wrapping up a previous tender offer for the same notes.

Holders of PDVSA’s 2017 bonds were suddenly filled with dread by Tuesday’s close as rumours of the overdue maturity payment being made could not be confirmed. Its credit default swap price worsened on the expectation a credit event would be declared.

While it is tempting to think of capital markets-friendly President Mauricio Macri as having wiped Argentina’s slate clean, it is not yet time for EM investors to forgive and forget.