South America

Argentine oil and gas company YPF amended its proposed bond exchange for the fourth time on Sunday evening, again upping the cash payment for holders of its March 2021s in a move that the issuer says has the support of the most stubborn group of bondholders.

Peruvian government-owned oil company Petroperu clinched most of the remaining financing of the long-awaited modernisation of its Talara refinery on Thursday, opting to reopen bonds first issued three years ago at a high dollar price rather than place a new benchmark.

Brazilian auto parts supplier Tupy and Peruvian mining company Volcán became the latest in a string of Latin American high yield companies to take advantage of extremely welcoming bond markets to improve their maturity profiles.

Bonds issued by Argentine oil and gas company YPF were up and down this week before ending largely flat as the company failed to find a consensus among investors regarding its proposed exchange offer. A March 23 maturity payment looms large.

DCM bankers said that more Lat Am borrowers who postponed bond issues last year could be tempted into a welcoming market after customer relationship management (CRM) company Atento picked a strong day to refinance a 2022 maturity.

Fonplata, the South American supranational development bank, raised Sfr200m ($222m) of 5.5-year bonds in the Swiss franc market on Wednesday, increasing the size of the deal from an initially planned Sfr150m.

After receiving a strong response to a cash tender offer for its only previous international bond, Brazilian waterway logistics services provider Hidrovias do Brasil notched an eight times subscribed order book on its way to a $500m 10-year non-call five deal on Wednesday.

A set of investors owning more than 45% of a YPF bond maturing next month say they will not support the Argentine oil and gas company’s attempt to swap the notes for a combination of new senior secured bonds due in 2026 and cash — even after the issuer improved the offer on Monday. However, emboldened by the public support of a separate bondholder group, YPF responded late on Tuesday that investors should participate in the deal “with a view to contributing to the preservation of their investments”.

Argentine government-owned oil and gas company YPF again sweetened the terms of an exchange for its 2021 bonds on Monday, increasing the cash portion of the swap in an effort to persuade creditors to switch into longer dated notes and thus avoid the risk of default.

Peruvian mining company Volcán is set to recover some lustre after a tricky 2020, proposing a liability management transaction and equity raise that should lower leverage and bring improvements to its rating.

Brazilian auto parts supplier Tupy began investor calls on Monday morning ahead of a proposed senior unsecured bond that it wants to use to finance a tender offer for existing bonds.

The Argentine province of Salta will in the coming days launch a restructuring offer that already has the buy-in of 40% of its creditors. Yet Buenos Aires, the country’s largest sub-sovereign issuer, is testing bondholders' patience after nine months in default.