A presence in all major Latin American markets and an expanding footprint in the US were important factors that informed the outstanding performance of this year’s Bond House of the Year in 2024.
Santander has been a mainstay of retail banking across the region for decades, but its ubiquity is now also being felt across the investment banking sphere, and in particular this past year in the region’s debt capital markets; the Spanish banking giant has massively beefed up its capabilities, leading a diverse and outstanding batch of deals.
Its landmark transactions included a $1.5 billion green bond issued by Brazil’s Raízen, Peru’s PEN7 billion sustainable notes issuance, an $800 million bond placed by Argentina’s YPF and a $1.49 billion project bond issued by Mexico-backed trust Fiemex, a refinancing of part of a $6.2bn acquisition of a portfolio of power assets from Spain’s Iberdrola.
Gonzalo Álvarez Cañedo, head of DCM Latam at Santander CIB, notes that the performance is the outcome of years of investment in the development of both local and international capabilities in the region, allied with a solid performance of the Latin American market over the past year.
“We participated in many deals in several industries and different countries,” he says. “It has been a really good year.”
According to him, investors’ interest has reflected the strength of the regional market, and that reality has been materialized in many of the fixed income transactions that Santander helped to place in the period.
“The volume of DCM deals increased 45% this year,” Álvarez says. “Most of the deals we have worked on have been more than three times oversubscribed. Investors are feeling bullish about the region.”
Issuers are also tapping markets for a broader variety of reasons. Álvarez has seen a spate of entities refinancing older deals, but also raising new money in the process in order to invest in their business. In his view, stronger appetite for emerging market assets is helping drive issuers to the market as well.
“Latin American economies have shown resilience in recent years, and that is something that attracts investors who seek extra returns for their portfolios,” Álvarez points out.