Any time Codelco comes to market, investors expect a benchmark transaction: size, duration, disciplined execution and pricing that reflects both Chile’s sovereign strength and the copper producer’s own credit standing. The January dual-tranche bond offering delivered all of that — and more — making the transaction, which wins the award for Quasi-Sovereign High-Grade Bond of the Year, one of the defining Latin American capital markets prints of 2025.
Codelco opened the funding year with a $1.5 billion senior unsecured issuance split evenly between ten-year and thirty-year maturities, printing $750 million of notes due 2035 and $750 million due 2055. The deal was brought to market in early January, capturing a constructive window before issuance calendars filled and investor attention shifted elsewhere.
For CFO Alejandro Sanhueza, timing was critical. By moving early, the company secured long-dated funding to support capital-intensive projects designed to extend the life of existing mines, restore production levels and maximize long-term value. The proceeds also allowed Codelco to manage upcoming maturities scheduled during the year, reinforcing balance-sheet flexibility.
“The January window offered us conditions that were particularly favourable to take advantage of the market’s appetite and demand that could not be met by a placement made by the Chilean Republic the day before,” Sanhueza says. “The oversubscription, along with very competitive spreads, reflect the trust that investors have in our long-term strategy.”
The structure itself underscored that long-term view. Few Latin American quasi-sovereign issuers are able to place thirty-year risk at scale, let alone at a relatively tight spread pick-up over the ten-year. Yet Codelco achieved just that, with a curve extension of around twenty basis points between the two tranches — a clear signal of investor confidence in both the credit and Chile’s broader macro framework.
The ten-year notes were priced with a 6.330% coupon to yield 6.335%, while the thirty-year tranche carried a 6.780% coupon for a 6.783% yield. Initial price thoughts were set wider, but strong demand allowed spreads to tighten materially through the book-building process, resulting in final spreads of US Treasuries plus 165 basis points for the 2035s and plus 185 basis points for the 2055s. The bonds priced with little to no new-issue concession versus secondary comparables — a notable outcome for a long-duration, benchmark-sized transaction.
Demand was emphatic. Books were fully covered within minutes of announcement and ultimately peaked at around $8.5 billion, or roughly 5.7 times the final deal size, with orders from more than 250 accounts. The order book was anchored by real-money investors, including asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds, providing the issuer with confidence to tighten pricing without sacrificing quality.
Geographically, participation was broad and balanced, with North American and European accounts dominating both tranches and meaningful demand also coming from Latin America and Asia. Investor type distribution skewed decisively toward long-term holders, particularly in the thirty-year tranche, helping to underpin secondary performance and reinforcing the bonds’ status as reference points for Chilean risk.
The transaction was executed under Rule 144A and Regulation S, ensuring access to a deep international investor base. Several global banks acted as joint bookrunners, coordinating an intraday execution strategy that capitalized on early-year liquidity and strong appetite for high-grade duration.
Beyond pricing metrics, the deal also fits squarely within Codelco’s broader funding and diversification strategy. Following the issuance, around 71% of the company’s debt is in bond format, with the remaining 29% sourced from banks, export credit agencies and multilateral institutions. That mix provides flexibility while maintaining access to long-dated capital markets funding — a critical consideration for a miner with long project cycles and significant upfront investment needs.
The January bonds did not stand alone. Both tranches were subsequently reopened later in the year, adding further size and liquidity and taking total outstanding amounts in each maturity to roughly $1.45 billion. The successful reopenings validated the original transaction’s pricing and reinforced investor appetite for Codelco paper across the curve.
Strategically, the deal carried significance beyond the company itself. By achieving near-zero new-issue concessions at the start of the year, Codelco effectively set a pricing anchor for Latin American quasi-sovereign issuance in 2025, demonstrating that global investors remained willing to commit capital at scale and for long tenors when presented with a high-quality credit and disciplined execution.
In combining size, duration, strong demand and precise timing, Codelco’s $1.5 billion dual-tranche offering exemplified best-in-class execution in the quasi-sovereign space. It reaffirmed the issuer’s role as Chile’s flagship borrower in international markets and set a benchmark that few peers in the region can match — making it a clear and compelling winner of this year’s award.
Codelco $1.5 billion Dual-Tranche Ten-Year and Thirty-Year Notes
Book-runners: Bank of America; Citi; JP Morgan; Santander
Counsel to Issuer: Cleary Gottlieb; Carey
Counsel to Lenders: A&O Shearman; Garrigues