Category: Argentina

Peru has no current plans to join the Banco del Sur, the regional development bank being promoted by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and to a lesser degree Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner. Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia have pledged their support to the bank, which detractors say is a politically motivated institution destined to fail. “We are not going into the Banco del Sur at the moment. We have other worries on our minds,” José Arista Arbildo, Peru’s vice minister of finance, tells LatinFinance. The bank, seen more as a Chavez political ploy than an answer to pan-regional development, has been in discussion for months, though no firm action appears to have been taken.

Peru has no current plans to join the Banco del Sur, the regional development bank being promoted by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and to a lesser degree Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner. Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia have pledged their support to the bank, which detractors say is a politically motivated institution destined to fail. “We are not going into the Banco del Sur at the moment. We have other worries on our minds,” José Arista Arbildo, Peru’s vice minister of finance, tells LatinFinance. The bank, seen more as a Chavez political ploy than an answer to pan-regional development, has been in discussion for months, though no firm action appears to have been taken.

Extending the LatAm junk bond spree, Argentina’s Banco Macro plans to sell up to $200m in 2014 unsubordinated bonds. The bonds will price after the close of a presentation period that started October 19 and runs to the end of the month. The debt will be issued under the bank’s medium-term notes program, which has been recently increased to $700m from $400m. Proceeds will go to extending the loan portfolio and for general corporate purposes. Fitch expects to assign a B+ rating, while Moody’s has given it a B2. Citi and UBS are leading.

Extending the LatAm junk bond spree, Argentina’s Banco Macro plans to sell up to $200m in 2014 unsubordinated bonds. The bonds will price after the close of a presentation period that started October 19 and runs to the end of the month. The debt will be issued under the bank’s medium-term notes program, which has been recently increased to $700m from $400m. Proceeds will go to extending the loan portfolio and for general corporate purposes. Fitch expects to assign a B+ rating, while Moody’s has given it a B2. Citi and UBS are leading.

Argentina’s Industrias Metalúrgicas Pescarmona (Impsa) has priced a $225m 2014 bond issue at 99.011 with a 11.250% coupon to yield 11.500%. The offer, launched September 28, was for up to $250 million. It was upsized from an initial $150m size due to demand, according to people close to the transaction. Proceeds will refinance existing debt. Merrill Lynch was sole bookrunner on the offering rated B by Fitch. The transaction comes from a $500m program.

Chilean brewer Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) has acquired Argentina’s Inversora Cervecera in Argentina for $88m. Invesora Cervecera owns the Bieckert, Palermo and Imperial beer brands, which it purchased from Brazil’s AmBev last year. CCU is the second-largest brewer in Argentina. The acquisition would help to solve CCU’s capacity constraints in this country, says S&P, which expects the deal to be financed with cash and new debt. The BBB+ (stable) rating will not be affected, adds the agency.

Argentina’s Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona has extended the period it will accept offers by one day to October 12, for up to $250 million in 2014 fixed-rate dollar bonds from a $500m program. The bond sale opened on September 28 via Merrill Lynch.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal has offered $542m for the 34.7% it does not already own of Acindar Industria Argentina de Aceros, with ARS5.75 per share in cash for shareholders. The purchase will help support Acindar’s $150m investment program to raise capacity to 1.7m metric tons. JPMorgan is the arranger and dealer manager and Bruchou, Fernandez Madero & Lombardi are advising ArcelorMittal.

Argentine power distribution company Edenor has priced a $220m issue of 10-year NC5 notes at par to yield 10.5%. The deal was raised from $200m in size and came in line with 10.5% area talk. The price on the B2/B bond issue is similar to recent junk issues from Senda (B+) and Durango (B+), though wider than the 9.250%-9.375% floated by Edenor in July, when the transaction was suspended because of poor market conditions. The firm was originally planning to raise $220m. Citi and Deutsche have joint books.

Argentine metals company Industrias Metalurgicas Perscarmona is planning a seven-year 144a debt offering to raise funds to refinance existing debt. The size and coupon of the offering have yet to be decided, but is expected to be around $250m, according to a banker familiar with the deal. Sole bookrunner Merrill Lynch plans to price the bonds, rated B by Fitch, next week following a roadshow this week. IMPSA and KUO are part of a regional high yield bond supply wave that started last week and has some weeks to run. “The taps are back on. This is going to be a busy October,” says a veteran DCM banker with mandates to execute.