South America

With Argentina expected to announce its return to international bond markets as soon as today, European investors appear to be more demanding on pricing than their North American counterparts — not that this is likely to derail the sovereign’s plans to raise $12bn-$15bn.

Argentina is set for an emphatic return to international bond markets next week after a 15 year absence. It is set to be the most exciting turnaround story in emerging markets, said investors. But the country’s capital market rebirth will depend upon triumphant deal execution, writes Oliver West.

US Circuit judge Christopher Droney removed the final obstacle in Argentina’s path to markets on Wednesday, provoking a rally in the government’s that could scarcely have been better timed.

Investments in Brazilian sugar companies have often ended with a distinctly bitter taste for bondholders as the sector has battled low prices for the commodity and a severe currency devaluation. Those who bought USJ Açúcar e Álcool’s $275m 9.875% 2019s in December 2012 are facing familiar pain.

Empresa Eléctrica Angamos, the Chilean power generation company, will buy back at least $187m of its senior secured notes due 2029 as part of a tender offer but extended the early bird deadline and increased the maximum size in a bid to entice more investors to offer up their holdings.

Camposol, an agribusiness operating mainly on Peru’s Pacific coast, is asking investors to swap existing 2017 bonds for a new five year deal to buy itself time during a period of tight liquidity.

An assortment of borrowers, debt capital market bankers and rating agency officials gathered in Nassau on Friday to discuss the state of play for Latin American bond issuers.

The decision by the IDB to grant a $5bn loan to Argentina has helped buoy confidence in the country ahead of its return to international capital markets after a 15-year absence with a $12bn-$15bn bond

The Brics bank is to finally make its capital markets debut later this month by issuing green bonds in RMB with the proceeds to be channelled into energy and infrastructure projects, sources have told Emerging Markets, a sister publication of GlobalCapital Asia.

Argentina, for over 15 years a pariah of international capital markets, will begin meeting fixed income investors on Monday with bond investors and bankers in bullish mood about what could be the largest EM debt issue for two decades.

Lat Am syndicate bankers said on Thursday that the market remained in wait-and-see mode ahead of Argentina’s imminent jumbo bond return as another week passed without issuance.

Argentine real estate company IRSA will buy back nearly $213.5bn of dollar denominated bonds after wrapping up a tender offer that will be financed by its recent bond deal.