South America

Chilean lender Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI) became the latest Latin American issuer to take advantage of strong market conditions as it took the plunge on its first international bond issuance for more than four years.

A decision not to take a rating from Moody’s proved wise for Braskem as the Brazilian company attracted significant interest from investment grade buyers on its way to a $1.75bn dual tranche deal on Wednesday.

Extraordinarily strong appetite for EM corporate paper helped power company Colbún become the latest Latin American borrower to issue through its existing curve on Wednesday.

Brazil followed Mexico’s example in making the most of idyllic issuance conditions on Tuesday, though some investors argued that Brazil’s $3bn deal demonstrated that the market retained some sense of discipline.

Brazil’s Braskem could become the third Latin America chemicals company in two weeks to issue internationally as it meets fixed income investors on Monday and Tuesday.

One rare and one debut issuer from Latin America are meeting bond investors as bankers say that a quieter couple of weeks of activity is no indication of a slow end to the year.

Petrobras’s latest new issues gradually recovered ground in secondary markets this week as the overhang effect from a huge exchange offer began to wear off.

Chilean credit union Cooperativa del Personal de la Universidad de Chile (Coopeuch) joins the ranks of Chilean borrowers welcomed into the Swiss franc bond market. Thursday’s outing further illustrates that the love affair of the Chilean borrower and Swiss buyer not only endures but burns brightly.

Colombia’s largest bank will begin meeting bond investors next week as it looks to raise up to $1bn of dollar-denominated 10 year tier two notes to fund a tender offer for existing bonds.

Both of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras’s new bonds issued last Monday will jump to jumbo size after the response to the company’s exchange offer surpassed the expectations of many market participants.

Brazilian water and sewage company Aegea Saneamento e Participações is looking to raise $400m via its debut international bond issuance, according to rating agency reports.

Nearly 95% of holders of Latin America oil and gas company GeoPark’s $300m of bonds due 2020 agreed to sell their paper as part of tender offer, the issuer said on Thursday evening.