South America

International investors have remained sanguine about the chances of a restructuring of Bolivia’s sovereign bonds even after the finance minister said the recently elected government was seeking payment relief on some external debt.

Julio Velarde, the governor of the central bank of Peru (BCRP), insisted that the country had broad access to international financial markets as the sovereign’s bond spreads more than recovered the ground lost during recent political volatility.

Bond buyers snapped up three debut issuers from Latin America in the space of two days this week, jumping at rare chances to add variety and — in certain cases — juicier yields to their portfolios.

Chile increased its first social bond on Thursday, returning to the Euroclearable peso market for the first time in 18 months with a deal that bankers said had higher international participation than expected.

Digital retailer B2W attracted a huge book on its bond market debut on Wednesday, tightening pricing to land just an 0.125% in yield terms wide of its parent company, Brazilian retail giant Lojas Americanas.

Chile will look to sell $1.8bn-equivalent of Euroclearable, peso-denominated domestic law bonds to local and international investors on Thursday, according to the finance ministry.

Peruvian private healthcare provider Auna sold its first international bond on Tuesday, overcoming major political volatility in its home country as bankers said the limited offering of Peruvian corporate paper played in the issuer’s favour.

Brazilian pulp and paper company Suzano tapped its sustainability-linked notes for a further $500m on Monday, overcoming rating agency concerns about leverage to issue 85bp inside where it originally sold the bonds just two months ago.

B2W Digital, the digital arm of Brazilian retail group Americanas Universe, began investor calls on Monday as it looks to debut in international bond just weeks after its parent company successfully did the same.

Marcelo Delmar, a veteran of Latin American bond markets, has joined Morgan Stanley’s debt capital markets team in New York, GlobalCapital understands.

Argentina’s second largest city, Córdoba, said on Wednesday that holders of 83.79% of its bonds had agreed to its consent solicitation — enough to trigger the collective action clause and enable the issuer to restructure the entire $150m note.

Though the bond market reaction to the impeachment of Peru’s popular president was not as severe as it would have been in most Latin American countries, investors said that political volatility would continue to challenge the sovereign’s credit profile and that the situation presented risks for next year’s elections.