Carlos Planas, a Deutsche Bank managing director and head of the shop’s Argentina sales and trading business, has left the firm to join Bulltick Capital Markets. The longtime Deutsche executive is relocating to Miami to build out Bulltick’s burgeoning fixed income sales and trading operation. “We’re forming an investment bank in Latin America and putting together a top of the line team to build out our capital markets capabilities,” Luis Alberto Guerra, managing partner at Bulltick, tells LatinFinance. Planas’ departure does not bode well for Deutsche, which recently lost a team of senior bankers in Brazil to Itau BBA. In an internal memo obtained by LatinFinance, Seth Waugh, CEO for the Americas at Deutsche Bank says a new Brazil country head would be named as soon as possible and that the bank “remains fully committed to LatAm generally and Brazil specifically.” Waugh also wrote that Deutsche would continue to “expand” its presence in both. A Deutsche spokeswoman declined to comment.
Yearly Archives: 2008
Itau BBA Raids Deutsche Bank
Itau BBA has plundered Deutsche Bank’s Sao Paulo office, taking four senior executives including CEO of the Brazil business Alexandre Aoude, say people away from the process. Joao de Biase, head of corporate banking, Fabio Dall Acqua, a senior distribution executive and Pedro Nunes also left along with Aoude. Itau is apparently beefing up its fixed income sales and distribution business with the hires. A Deutsche spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
WestLB Loses Two Senior Bankers
WestLB has lost two experienced LatAm bankers. Carl Adams, head of EM structured and corporate finance in LatAm, and Isaac Deutsch, an executive director in the same group, are both leaving the firm in a move that they apparently did not initiate. Adams is still at the firm, but has been given 60 days, say bankers away from the process, while Deutsch is confirmed to have already left. Billing the move as a “transition” out of the firm, a spokeswoman notes that WestLB has for a while now been reorganizing itself into an institution focused on sectors rather than geographical regions. WestLB no longer has a LatAm-specific group, but several operating groups in the region that report to global heads of sectors, such as infrastructure and energy. The bank plans to maintain its business in the region.
Grupo Posadas Launches Tender Offer
Grupo Posadas has launched an offer to purchase any and all of its $225m in outstanding 8.75% 2011 bonds. The hotel operator will pay holders $1,035 per $1,000 in the offer ending April 11, or $1,050 per $1,000 for bonds tendered by March 28. Posadas plans to fund the repurchase with proceeds from a MXP-denominated bond sale it is preparing for later this month. It plans to sell up to MXP1.5bn in 2018 fixed and 2013 floating-rate notes. Credit Suisse is dealer manger on the offer and leading the bond sale. Ixe, BBVA, JPMorgan and ING are co-managing the bond offering. Posadas is rated mxA/mxA+, which means it may be a tough sell given the performance of recent high yield domestic issues.
Arcelor Reduces Offer for Brazil Unit Shares
ArcelorMittal has reduced the offer price for its Arcelor Mittal Inox Brasil unit, formerly known as Acesita, to BRL94.55 per share from BRL100.00. Arcelor said it is taking the action to reflect the interim dividends that it plans to pay. The offer is now valued at about $1.76bn. A group of shareholders led by Tarpon Investments, which owns 157,300 common shares and 7.914m preferred shares, and BNDESPAR, which owns 12.707m preferred shares of the company, have irrevocably committed to sell in the offer, launched March 5. The deal is to be settled through a Bovespa auction April 4 and will result in ArcelorMittal acquiring the 43% outstanding shares in the company it does not currently own.
AIG Buys Colombian Lender
American International Group’s will enter Colombia after its AIG Consumer Finance Unit agreed to buy Inversora Pichincha from Ecuador’s Banco Pichincha and other minority shareholders. Bogota-based Inversora Pichincha provides consumer and commercial auto loans and unsecured consumer credit. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
IIC Raises $50m in Japanese Syndication
The Inter-American Corporation (IIC), a member of the IDB, has raised $50m via a 3-year syndication via Mizuho. The lender claims the so-called “Ninja Loan” marks the first time a LatAm-based issuer has raised funds among a small group of Japanese banks, including the Tokyo branch of BBVA. Pricing on the deal was not disclosed, but a person close to the process said the margin is comparable to what a AA rated US corporate would raise in today’s market. Mizuho has done Japanese syndications for US clients in the past and aims to increase its pipeline of LatAm deals, a director at the bank told LatinFinance earlier this year.
Merrill Launches Local Debt Indices
Merrill Lynch is launching new local EM sovereign debt indices to track the performance of EM sovereigns debt denominated in the issuer’s local currency. “The fact that we are launching this is a reflection of the growing importance of the local debt markets to institutional investors outside of the issuer’s domestic markets,” Phil Galdi, head of Merrill’s global bond index group in New York, tells LatinFinance. “These markets have grown in size and now represent an important asset class that has offered strong historical returns with low correlation to other asset classes,” he adds. The series includes three new indices: The Merrill local debt markets plus index is a broad composite index designed to track local currency sovereign debt at A1 or lower on average; the Merrill net cap-weighted liquid local debt markets index represents a liquid basket of fixed rate bonds with country allocations based on relative capitalization weights in corresponding broad country indices. The Merrill net equal-weighted liquid local debt markets index meanwhile represents a liquid basket of fixed rate bonds with equally weighted country exposure. They are aimed at institutional investors.
Bear Tips Trinidad and Tobago Bonds
Bear Stearns is recommending Trinidad and Tobago’s bonds based on the country’s financial resilience. “We view T&T as a strong story in the current environment of risk aversion and maintain our outperform recommendation on T&T bonds,” the shop says. “Current account and fiscal surpluses, policy stability (in contrast to some other oil countries) and high oil prices should provide strong buffers against the global shocks we are currently experiencing,” Bear states.
PR’s CRI See Breaching Covenants
S&P has cut Puerto Rico-based Caribbean Restaurants (CRI) to CCC+ from B. The outlook remains negative. “The downgrade reflects the distinct possibility that the company will breach financial covenants of its bank facility at its fiscal year-end,” says S&P credit analyst Jackie Oberoi. The fiscal year ends April 30 and the covenants become increasingly restrictive at the end of July. “The downgrade also reflects the company’s continued weak performance, which has been driven by a soft Puerto Rican economy coupled with increased labor, utility, and commodity costs,” adds Oberoi.