Venezuela has restarted talks with several Japanese companies regarding the acquisition of the 20% stake in state aluminum company CVG Venalum which it does not already own. Mibam, the Venezuelan mining and basic industries ministry, says it met with Showa Denko, Kobe Steel, Marubeni, Sumitomo Chemical, Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Materials Aluminum to acquire their stake. The parties have established a timetable of 4 months to conclude negotiations. The stake is reported to be valued at $500m.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Posted inDaily Brief
CAP Sets Buyback Price
Chilean steelmaker Cap has set the repurchase price for the tender of its $200m of outstanding 7.375% 2036 bonds. It will offer holders $1,117.33 per $1,000 principal in the offer that was to expire at 5pm Tuesday, with settlement July 22. CAP has not yet give the results. Citi is acting as dealer manager. The 2036s were originally sold in 2006 through Citi and HSBC and priced at 99.761 to yield 7.395% or 250bp over. The BBB minus rated CAP recently extended a 3-year loan into a 5-year facility, upsizing to $200m from an original $150m.
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Cementos Bio Bio Sells Ceramic Assets
Subsidiaries of Cementos Bio Bio has sold its stake in its ceramic businesses in the US, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru for $67m. Cementos says the sale is in line with its decision to focus on its core businesses of cement, lime, concrete, aggregates, and mortars. Cementos does not say which parties acquired the businesses.
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Cuervo to Head Santander LatAm AM
Jose Cuervo has joined Santander Asset Management as global head of regional mandates for LatAm equity. Cuervo joins Santander from HSBC Global Asset Management, where he has worked since 1998. Santander Asset Management’s LatAm investment platform consists of 80 fund managers and analysts. Cuervo’s role at HSBC is being taken over by Pedro Bastos and Natalia Kerkis.
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Ecopetrol Sale Seen at $1.1bn-$1.7bn
Colombia’s Ecopetrol will seek to place COP2.0 trn-COP3.0trn ($1.14bn-$1.71bn) in an equity follow on, according to remarks made by its CEO and confirmed by a company spokesman. This amount is an estimation based on the state-controlled oil producer’s needs, the spokesman says, with exact details decided at a board meeting Friday. The issuer has scheduled a July 27-August 17 order period for the local-only sale, and must state the exact number of shares and the share price on prior to the July 27 opening. A COP2 trn-COP3trn deal would represent between 1.5% and 2% of Ecopetrol, despite the government’s authorization to float up to 9.9%. Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Bancolombia are expected to manage the sale after being mandated as bookrunners on Ecopetrol’s previous transaction. Shares closed at COP3,710 Tuesday.
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Mexichem Preps Local Floater
Mexichem is preparing a local floating-rate bond, and eyeing a September pricing. The petrochemicals producer has filed for up to MXP2.5bn ($215m) in 2016 bonds paying interest at a spread to the TIIE. Mexichem is raising funds to repay bridge loans from 4 banks that it used to take out MXP2.5bn in 2014 debentures. The foursome, Banamex, BBVA Bancomer, HSBC and Ixe, are managing the new sale. Mexichem is rated AA /Aa3 on a national scale.
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OHL Unit Gets MXP Loan
An OHL Mexico-owned toll road has signed an MXP4.0bn ($345m) loan to help fund construction. The Via Rapida Poetas, 50% owned by the Spanish infrastructure specialist’s Mexican spinoff, got a 17-year loan paying an average of TIIE+300bp, says an investor relations official. He adds that the plan is to swap this to a fixed rate, though there are no details yet. Banorte and the government-backed Fonadin are the lenders. Proceeds are marked for the construction of 5km portion of a toll road on the periphery of Mexico City.
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Pemex Launches $3.25bn Loan Refi
Pemex launched a refinancing of its $3.25bn dual-tranche loan Tuesday, with the aim of reducing margins by another 50bp.The Mexican state-owned oil company closed the original transaction in December, but had a change of heart after seeing telecom America Movil lock in just 50bp over Libor on a $2bn 3.5-year loan in April. After paying Libor+125bp on its $1.25bn 3-year revolver and plus 150bp on a $2bn 5-year term loan, Pemex was heard to be less than satisfied with the spreads it had achieved just four months earlier. According to a banker who received the invitation, the company intends to reduce the margin on the revolver to Libor+75bp, while also cutting the term loan to Libor+100bp. Commitments fees will also fall to 25bp from 45bp. Banks will be paid a 25bp amendment for rolling over existing debt, and 35bp for any new money. Commitments are due August 3 with the closing scheduled for August 5. A conference call is scheduled for Thursday. Some bankers are wondering how much interest will be generated, particularly some European banks with potential problems brewing back at home as well as investment banks that may have already sold most if not all of their holdings. .”Pemex could probably get cheaper funding in Mexico, so to the extent that banks want to match [their offer] they have access to other forms of funding,” says one banker. Participants on the original deal were Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, Intesa Sanpaolo, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale, Bayern LB, JP Morgan, SMBC, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Banco Santander, Natixis, EDC, DZ Bank, Bank of New York, and Scotia. Sumitomo came with a $250m ticket across both tranches, while Intesa took $150m in the 5-year loan and EDC received $75m in the 3-year, according to participants. Bookrunners on the 3-year were Barclays, BBVA, Credit Agricole and RBS. BBVA, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Citi, HSBC and Inbursa were bookrunners on the 5-year. This time, BBVA Citi and Credit Agricole and HSBC
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QG Tests Appetite at 5.5% Area
Queiroz Galvao Oleo e Gas (QG) emerged with official guidance of 5.5% area Tuesday for a new $700m 7-year amortizing bond with a 3.8 year average life after securing solid anchor orders. Pricing is expected as soon as today. At those levels, some see OG as a screaming buy especially considering the bond’s 4-year average life and the 200bp plus premium to Petrobras’s 2016s which have been trading around 3.5%. Further positives include the Baa3/BBB minus rating and a collateral package that carries a first priority lien on all the issuer’s tangible assets and project accounts. Odebrecht’s similarly structured 2021s (BBB/Baa3) were also seen as an obvious comp, although they are longer dated. They were trading Tuesday at around 5.36%. OG’s amortizing bond with a 3.8-year average will be used to refinance debt incurred through its Atlantic Star and Alaskan Star drillships which both have long-term contracts with Petrobras. Odebrecht’s issue was used for similar purposes though its vessel was a new build. It marked the first large scale bond of this kind and raised hopes that similar infrastructure trades would follow suit. Earlier Schahin Engenharia had also completed a smaller $270m 2016 deal in October 2010 to refinance debt on the operating Lancer drillship in a BBB rated deal, which priced to yield 5.85%. Queiroz wrapped up investors meetings in Europe Monday for its 144A/RegS project bond. The contractor and provider of offshore and onshore drilling and production services in Brazil has mandated HSBC and Santander as global coordinators on the sale, with Citi coming in as a bookrunner.
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Transener Holds New York Meetings Today
Argentine utility Transener will meet investors in New York today after visiting accounts in Boston yesterday as it looks to market a new 2021 that is part of a debt exchange and buyback of its existing 2016s. The borrower is looking to pay a nominal annual rate of 9.75% on an up to $148.6m issue, with books on the trade open until July 25, according to a local regulatory filing. Investors can exchange the existing bonds for the new 2021s par for par, and receive an extra $30 for each $1,000 if tenders are submitted by the early bird date of July 25. Alternatively, they can cash in the existing bonds and receive $910 for each $1,000 in principal, plus another $90 in early bird premiums. The company is also seeking consents to amend terms and conditions on the outstanding bonds. The final size of the issue could be higher depending on the success of the liability management operation, but it cannot exceed the $300m ceiling set by the program. The exchange offer expires on August 9. The 2016s were originally issued in 2006 with a $220m size and priced at par to yield 8.875%. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank led that transaction and are also acting as leads on this occasion.