Category: Argentina

Argentine food company Arcor is expected to price $100m in 10-year amortizing peso-linked bonds today, Wednesday. Price guidance is 8.375%-8.500% for the notes, which amortize in the final two years and are rated BB minus. Citi has sole books with Santander Rio and BBVA as joint leads.

Argentina’s Appeal Court has upheld a ruling by the country’s anti-trust regulator to block a $54m bid by US equity firm Eton Park Capital Management for a 50% stake in local electricity transmission firm Transener. The regulator blocked the bid because, it said, the US investment firm did not have sufficient experience of the company’s business in what is a key economic sector. Transener handles 95% of the country’s electricity.

Argentine industrial conglomerate Grupo Pescarmona (GPC) announced Friday that talks had broken down with GE to buy its global hydroelectric energy business. GPC offered no details of the breakdown of negotiations. The acquisition would have given GPC assets in Canada, China and Finland. The Argentina company announced the acquisition last December and had hoped to conclude the sale in the first quarter of this year.

Argentine utility Hidroeléctrica Piedra del Aguila (HPDA) is seeking $125m in 10-year non call fives with pricing slated for Friday June 29. Roadshows are taking place in Europe on Monday, New York Tuesday and Wednesday, and Boston Thursday. Guidance is expected Wednesday or Thursday. HPDA is the largest private hydroelectric generator in Argentina. Proceeds are to refinance debt from its 1999 and 2004 restructuring and for working capital. The company holds a concession until 2023, from the Argentine government to operate its hydroelectric facility and for the generation and sale of electricity. Merrill Lynch has sole books.

Argentine foodmaker Arcor is roadshowing a $100m 10-year amortizing bond in Europe this week. Stops are planned in LA on Friday and on the East Coast in the early part of next week, with pricing set for June 27. The BB minus notes amortize in the final two years, giving the bonds a 9.5-year average life. Citi, Santander Rio and BBVA are handling the sale.

Argentina’s Banco Comafi, a mid-market bank based in Buenos Aires, tapped the peso-linked market for $200m worth of 5-year amortizing notes Wednesday at par to yield 12.50%. The notes, which have a 4-year average life, came at the tight end of 12.50%-12.75% guidance, according to a banker close to the deal. Most of the participants in the deal were US and Europe-based, and put in orders for more than 2.5x the book. Citi led.

Argentina’s industrial output rose in May by 6.4%, year on year, according to national statistics institute, INDEC. Cumulatively, for the first five months of the year, production was up 6.6%. Eleven of the 12 industrial sectors showed growth between January and May, said the government, with the automotive sector leading expansion once more.

Argentina’s economic expanded 8.0% in the first quarter of the year, reports the country’s national statistics bureau, INDEC. According to the economy ministry this is the fifth consecutive year of growth, averaging 8.8%, that the country has achieved. The most dynamic sector in the first quarter was shown by services, which showed year-on-year growth of 8.4% and compares with a y-o-y rise of 6.1% of goods. The subsector of financial intermediation stood out as did transport and communications, expanding 19.5% and 13.3%, respectively.

Spanish energy firm Gas Natural has increased its stake in Argentina’s strained gas industry. Gas Natural has bought the 28% it had yet to own in Natural Servicios, Natural Energy, Invergas. and Gas Natural SDG Argentina. The Barcelona-based company paid $55.4m to Germany’s E.ON to take its holding to 70%.

Argentine food producer Arcor officially announced plans to raise $100m in 10-year amortizing bonds, as first reported by LatinFinance last week. Citi, Santander Rio and BBVA were mandated for the BB minus-rated deal.