South America

MTN investors are speculating that the huge yield on Argentine peso bonds may be worth the risk.

Argentine energy company Medanito will wait until January to attempt its debut international bond issuance.

Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Tonon Bioenergia has filed for bankruptcy after many months of battling low prices, and Standard & Poor’s is pessimistic on bondholders’ recovery chances.

Opposition supporters were rejoicing in Venezuela this week after their greatest electoral victory over Chavismo, but the bond market’s reaction was muted as oil plummeted to nearly seven year lows and the scale of the political and economic challenges that lie ahead loomed large.

Bolivia’s budget for 2016 includes a $1bn bond issue to finance the construction of hospitals, finance minister Luis Arce said at a press conference in the capital, La Paz.

Spreads on Chile’s sovereigns bonds tightened by 1bp across the curve on Tuesday as Latin America’s best rated country began a fixed income investor roadshow.

Brazil took a step closer to sub-investment grade status on Wednesday when Moody’s placed its Baa3 rating on review for downgrade.

For Venezuelan bonds to jump as much as four points on a day that oil prices reached seven year lows on Monday was surely a sign that something special had happened. But some analysts felt that such will be the impact of Sunday’s parliamentary election in Venezuela that the bonds should have rallied even further.

Energy company Medanito will hit the road this week to meet fixed income investors ahead of a maximum $150m deal as Argentine borrowers continue to show interest in international markets despite the small size of most companies in the country.

Argentina’s issuers are wasting no time returning to international capital markets after Mauricio Macri’s victory in the November 22 presidential elections, though Lat Am bond bankers warned that tough times remained ahead for the country.

Huw Jenkins will need all of his powers of persuasion and banking know-how if BTG Pactual, where he is a founding partner, is to halt its downward spiral.

Brazil iron ore pellet producer Samarco Mineração’s bonds hit the mid 30s on Tuesday as Fitch reduced the borrower’s rating from BBB to BB- a month after two of the company’s dams burst in the state of Minas Gerais, causing heavy human and environmental damage.