Category: Corporate & Sovereign Strategy

Mexican cell phone operator Iusacell has launched a $350 million debt swap as part of a larger debt restructuring program. The firm reached an agreement with creditors to restructure $750 million of debt in January, following protracted negotiations. Iusacell is offering to swap 14 ¼% bonds, due 2006, for new bonds at 10%, maturing in 2013. The offer is due to expire on May 18.

Mexican satellite operator Satélites Mexicanos (SatMex), has restructured its $800 million debt, of which almost $523 million is in default. The agreement, signed on Friday, ends two years of negotiations with creditors and includes the issuance of new first priority senior secured notes for current FRN holders and new second priority senior secured notes for current high-yield bond holders.

Metrogas, which supplies a quarter of Argentina’s natural gas, said it reached agreement with creditors to exchange US$437 million in debt, staving off bankruptcy. The company defaulted on its debt in 2002 amidst an economic crisis and government-imposed price controls. Creditors can choose between 75% of the face value of the debt or swap it for notes that come due in 2014. More than 90% of creditors approved the plan.

Brazilian logistics company VarigLog Monday launched a US$350 million bid for its former parent company, airline Varig. Brazil’s flagship airline is operating under bankruptcy protection after struggling for years while losing market share to smaller and more nimble operators. Late last year creditors, including General Electric and Boeing, rejected an offer from local investment group Docas Investimentos. Varig sold off VarigLog in January for US$46 million.

BBVA Colombia, a subsidiary of Spanish bank BBVA, has approved a $178 million bond offering as part of its restructuring process to absorb local bank Granahorrar. BBVA bought state-owned Granahorrar last October for $430 million, making it the largest local purchase ever by a foreign financial institution.

Argentine’s largest cement producer, Loma Negra, will cancel all its negotiable notes worth $30.2 million on March 6 as part of its debt restructuring. In January the company bought back $233.8 million of its bonds. The cement producer will also issue $100 million of new notes as part of its refinancing strategy. Last year Loma Negra was taken over by Brazilian group Camargo Correa in a deal worth just over $1 billion.

Medellín-based Bancolombia, Colombia’s largest private-sector bank, has bought 98.57% of Comercia, the country’s eighth-largest factoring company, for $19.2 million. The purchase is part of the restructuring process currently underway at Colombian conglomerate Grupo Empresarial Antioqueno (GEA), owner of both Bancolombia and Comercia. Bancolombia bought the majority stake from textile company Fabricato-Tejicondor, also owned by GEA. In December Bancolombia created Latin America’s third-largest leasing company when it merged Leasing Colombia and Suleasing.