South America

In recent weeks, Argentina’s PR agency has been cramming the inboxes of financial journalists as the government goes on the attack in an apparent attempt to guilt-trip dissenting creditors into accepting its restructuring offer.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) said on Monday that it would elect its next president virtually in September as it rescheduled its annual meetings for the second time.

After Argentina said on Saturday that it was looking at improving the legal — but not financial — terms of its latest exchange offer. Dissenting bondholders have united further and now say they hold more than half the sovereign’s outstanding notes.

Brazilian food group BRF wrapped up a now rare cash tender for existing bonds on Friday, buying back just under $300m of debt.

Latin American bond bankers say they expect new issuance to come at a calmer pace for the next few weeks, with just two Brazilian companies the only borrowers from the region to venture into primary markets this week.

Banco BV, the banking arm of Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim, raised $500m of five year senior unsecured bonds on Wednesday in a deal well supported by retail, local and Brazilian bank buyers as well as the usual EM-dedicated institutional accounts.

Telecom Argentina is adding a sale of new bonds to an exchange offer in what would be the first Argentine new issue in international bond markets in over a year.

Martín Guzmán, Argentina’s finance minister, was not to be budged from his position on the country’s debt restructuring offer on Monday evening even as three groups of creditors signed a cooperation agreement to jointly express their rejection of the government’s latest offer.

Just weeks after rating agencies stripped the issuer of its investment grade rating, Brazilian petrochemicals giant Braskem sold $600m of hybrid bonds that bankers said showed the company’s commitment to its credit metrics.

Lat Am bond markets continued to demonstrate growing risk appetite as Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem began marketing hybrid bonds on Tuesday.

The run of new bond issues from Latin America credits looks set to extend this week after the slew of corporates from the region to tap the market last week mostly emerged with a combination of slim new issue concessions and positive aftermarket performance.

Latin America has been taking the spotlight in July after a record-breaking quarter for emerging markets bond issuance, but with US elections looming and all-in yields still very attractive, bankers across the emerging market world say there are plenty of reasons for issuers to continue to flock to markets.