South America

French lender Crédit Agricole has hired Italo Lombardi from Standard Chartered as its Latin America economist and strategist.

Argentine energy holding company Pampa Energía is planning to sell its peso-linked international bond on Wednesday, according to a filing with the local regulator.

Argentina’s second most populated province is preparing its second international bond issue of the year and will begin meeting investors on Monday.

Argentina had market participants choking on their churrasco this week with a century bond that triggered mixed reactions but sent a clear message about the bond market’s extraordinary ability to back any story it likes the sound of. Oliver West reports.

Chile re-opened its domestic 2021s and 2035s on Wednesday as it looks to attract more international investors into its peso-denominated bonds.

It is tale of the haves and have nots in EM this week as Argentina’s surprise 100 year bond received a $10bn book but Nigeria’s diaspora bond underwhelmed and prompted a widening of the sub-Saharan African sector.

Amid light-hearted comments from observers about its patchy debt record, Argentina sent a very serious message to markets on Monday with the first ever 100 year bond issuance from a single-B rated sovereign.

Even after weeks of political crisis, protests across the country, the government’s desperate scrambling for cash and a default on a loan from Russia, Venezuelan bond prices remain principally driven by oil prices.

Bond investors in Latin America are short of ideas as to what could provoke a sell-off that they see as necessary to release steam as borrowers make hay in highly attractive conditions.

Lat Am DCM bankers said that Uruguay had done a fine job of convincing investors to buy into its inflation-busting story after the sovereign issued its first ever nominal global peso-denominated bond.

Latin America’s best rated sovereign Chile will follow up this week’s euro and dollar bond issues with a local market trade targeted at international investors as it looks to build out its peso-denominated curve.

Meatpacker Minerva sold the first Brazilian cross-border bond since renewed corruption allegations against Brazilian president Michel Temer shook the market last month, tapping its 2026s for a further $350m.