South America

As of Thursday afternoon, pricing on a duo of Brazilian high yield credits looked set to be pushed to Friday, as investors in Latin American bonds were given the rare chance to get stuck into some riskier names.

Bankers said that Itaú Unibanco’s proposed tier two dollar deal was “exactly the kind of paper people want to buy” as the Brazilian lender lined up investor meetings in the wake of the Brazilian sovereign’s successful first ever dual tranche dollar deal.

Open interest in CME Group’s BRL/USD futures rose in the run up to the Brazilian Central Bank’s 50bp benchmark interest rate cut and has remained elevated ever since.

Brazil completed a tender offer for seven different dollar bonds on Tuesday, buying back for cash small amounts of bonds maturing between 2027 and 2041 but mostly guiding bondholders into its new long 30 year issued on Monday.

Strong technicals continue to drive international bond markets in Latin America as Brazil on Monday became the latest sovereign to take advantage of low rates and push out debt maturities with a 'blowout' dual tranche deal.

Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogotá (ETB), the Colombian telecoms company majority owned by the City of Bogotá, is looking to buy back up to Ps400tr ($120m) of its global local currency bonds.

The only two corporate issuers from Latin America this week sailed through primary markets as bankers said low rates and technical factors would continue to override socio-political volatility and sluggish economies in the region.

After bankers said Braskem’s blow-out bond issue this week was a vote of confidence for Brazil’s economic turnaround, a small single-B rated bank and an infrastructure company that underwent a restructuring just a year ago a set out to provide a tougher test of demand.

State Grid Corporation of China is seeking a loan to support its $2.23bn acquisition of Sempra Energy’s Chilean business. Even though it is a time of turmoil in Chile, lenders are bidding aggressively for the deal, owing to the state-owned Chinese company’s strong credentials, writes Pan Yue.

Chilean power company Empresa Eléctrica Cochrane sold $430m of 7.5 year amortising notes on Wednesday as part of a bond and loan refinancing of project finance debt.

Emerging market issuers continued to enjoy solid market conditions this week with new mandates joining the pipeline and Abu Dhabi’s Mamoura executing a $3.5bn triple tranche trade.

State Grid Corporation of China is in talks with banks for a loan to support its $2.23bn acquisition of Sempra Energy’s Chilean business.