Mexico’s Grupo Senda Autotransporte has clinched a majority acceptance in its consent solicitation to amend terms on its 10.5% 2015 bonds. With the approval, Senda can loosen a few of the restrictions that limit its ability to take on additional debt. It offered holders $1.25 for each $1,000 principal amount ahead of the expiration date on August 5. JPMorgan managed the transaction. The bus company initially sold the bonds in a $150m sale in 2007 through Credit Suisse.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Posted inDaily Brief
Transener Tops 50% in Bond Exchange
Argentine utility Transener saw a 56.6% participation rate in its offer to exchange or repurchase its outstanding 2016 bonds. In an operation that expired Tuesday, holders representing $47.4m of the bonds agreed to exchange the exiting debt for new 2021 notes, and holders of another $21.8m swapped their bonds for cash. Investors were allowed to exchange outstanding bonds for the new 2021s par for par, and receive an extra $30 for each $1,000 if tenders were submitted by the early bird date of July 25. Alternatively, they could have elected to receive $910 cash for each $1,000 in principal, plus another $90 in early bird premiums. To finance the transaction, Transener last month sold $53.1m in new 9.75% 2021s at 95.405 to yield 10.5%, while also issuing another $46.9m to be used in the exchange. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank managed the process.
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BR Malls Scoops up Portfolio
BR Malls has agreed to purchase control of a shopping mall portfolio in the State of Parana for BRL791m ($504m). The shopping mall developer is buying 70% of Alvear Participacoes, a holding vehicle for two existing malls and two projects to be built. The price includes BRL511m for the operating Cataui Londrina and Catuai Maringa centers, and BRL262m on the Catuai Londrina and Catuai Cascavel, to be completed in 2012 and 2013. BR Malls also plans to buy BRL19m in unused land. Of the total, BRL334m is to be paid up front, and BRL329m in 3 annual installments. BRL105m of the total comes in the form of assumed debt. The payments will be made using BR Malls’ cash. As is normal for the frequent acquirer, it did not use outside advisors on the deal. The purchase takes the number of malls in BR Malls’ portfolio to 43.
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Brookfield Defines Local Bond
Brookfield Incorporacoes has set the terms for a BRL300m ($191m) bond sale in Brazil’s domestic market. A BRL77m 2015 tranche pays the DI+1.55%, coming in under a DI+1.6% ceiling. A BRL223m 2016 piece pays the DI plus 1.75%, equaling the maximum set prior to bookbuilding. BTG Pactual and HSBC are managing the sale, done under the rule 476 restricted format. Brookfield is rated A3/A+ on a national scale.
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Carlyle Plans Travel Agent Selldown
The Carlyle Group plans to float a portion of travel services provider CVC Brasil Operadora e Agencia de Viagens, according to a prospectus announcing an all-secondary share IPO. CVC, 63% controlled by the US private equity group, had been expected to be among this year’s Bovespa debutants, though the success of deals sitting in the Brazilian pipeline has been made less clear due to recent volatility. As it is just the initial filing, CVC does not yet indicate the size or timing of the deal, to be led by BAML, BTG Pactual, Itau, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. It recorded BRL120m in Ebitda in 1H2011, up from BRL116m in the corresponding period of 2010, and booked BRL269m for the full year 2010. CVC was founded in 1972, with Carlyle entering in 2009. The Bovespa has suffered as much as any of the world’s falling equity indexes in the past few days, adding to bankers’ expectations of reduced volume. It will be particularly challenging for IPOs and for small and mid cap offerings, bankers say. The possibilities for follow-ons and for larger-cap offerings, are somewhat better, though most of the rumored and filed names in Brazil are on the smaller end of the continuum. In Colombia, large-cap Ecopetrol’s COP2.5trn ($1.4bn) domestic-only sale suffered a snag when secondary levels dipped below the COP3,700 per share offering price Monday.
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Fovissste Raises Private Overseas RMBS
Mexico’s Fovissste has raised MXP5.48bn ($457m) in UDI-denominated RMBS in a private deal sold to international investors. The 30-year bonds with an average life between 5 and 6 years pay 4.5% and represent the government-backed lender’s first international bond sale. The notes were sold to investors in Europe and Canada, according to a company official, who declined to provide additional details about the buyers. The deal was put together during the last 5 months, the official says, as the lender looks to diversify its sources. Goldman Sachs managed the sale. Fovissste has also filed for MXP4.26bn UDI-denominated sale in Mexico’s local market, indicating an August 17 pricing.
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GrupoSura Mandates On FO
Colombia’s Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana (GrupoSura) has selected BBVA, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Santander and UBS to lead the international tranche of its up to $2.1bn equity follow-on offering, Andres Bernal Correa, the company’s vice president of investment and finance, tells LatinFinance. The same international institutions have provided $1.65bn in bridge loans which can be disbursed anytime over a 1-year period and will carry a tenor of 1-2 years. The move is part of a financing plan to cover the cost of the recently agreed EUR2.615bn ($3.76bn) acquisition of ING’s LatAm pension fund and insurance assets. The company is targeting a $700m size for the foreign follow-on and a larger $1.4bn-equivalent to be placed among locals via Bancolombia, which along with Banco de Bogota and Davivienda has also given GrupoSura up to $1bn in bridge financing. UBS and Bancolombia acted advisors to GrupoSura on the acquisition. Proceeds from the credit lines are slated only to fund the acquisition, but hopes are that the company will not have to tap the bridge, Bernal says. Equity financing is seen as way to the ease pressure being exerted by the ratings agencies like S&P, which placed the company’s BBB minus rating on creditwatch after noting that incremental indebtedness from the acquisition could impact GrupoSura’s credit profile. The FO is expected to be launched in October, but with bolsas across the region tumbling 5% or more Monday after S&P took away the US’s triple A credit rating over the weekend, questions remain about the ability of any company to tap equity markets, at least in the short-term. “We hope that markets will calm down in a few weeks…and that it will not affect (LatAm) as much as others,” Bernal adds. The amount of funding available to the company through various sources exceeds the amount required for the acquisition, notes Bernal, leaving some breathing space should other markets close. These include about $500m of cash on hand. Ideally, the c
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Helm Sells Local Bonds
Colombia’s Helm Bank has sold COP300bn ($166m) in domestic bonds, the maximum it was authorized to issue. Other financial issuers were looking to follow soon, but Banco Davivienda’s postponement Monday of a COP300bn-COP500bn ($165m-$275m) bond sale due to come to market on Wednesday has raised some doubts about other issuers in the pipeline. Other banks who are hoping to access the market in the next 3-4 weeks include Banco Falabella, Banco Finandina and Banco de Bogota. Helm opted for 4 of 6 available tranches, after getting an overall demand of COP752bn. A COP89bn 3-year note pays the interbank rate IBR+1.95%, a COP70bn 5-year IPC-indexed bond pays 4.08%, a COP49bn 7-year inflation-linked UVR-denominated bond pays 4.58%, and a COP93bn 7-year IPC-indexed bond pays 4.35%. Helm managed the sale itself, rated AA+ on a national scale.
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Light Takes Stake in Chinese Electric Vehicle Maker
Brazilian utility Light has paid BRL120m ($76m) for a 20% stake in CR Zongshen E-Power Fabricadora de Veiculos, or E-Power. E-Power, controlled by a Chinese parent, aims to produce electric motorcycles at a factory to be built in de Janeiro state. Light says the first phase of the project will require investments of BRL 122m, with part of the amount raised through financing. An investor relations official says the specific plan for the financing has not been determined.
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Lupatech Gets Consent to Alter Covenants
Creditors of Brazil’s Lupatech have agreed to adjust the payment schedule for the troubled oil valve maker’s BRL320m ($204m) in convertible 2018 bonds, as well as amend the remuneration and the conversion premium. Facing tight liquidity and high leverage coming out of the credit crisis period, Lupatech got a covenant waiver from creditors in 2010 that expired this year. An agreement to adjust the terms was largely in the hands of Brazilian development bank BNDES, which holds about 90% of the converts issued in 2009, as well as 11.4% of Lupatech’s equity. Lupatech’s has seen its rating fall to Caa1 and CCC, on concerns about the sustainability of its cash flow and liquidity, and has said it may look to sell non-core assets to raise funds.