Iguatemi Empresa de Shopping Centers, a Brazilian mall company, raised BRL200m ($102.4m) in 2014 local bonds at 104.5% of the CDI interbank rate Wednesday. The deal was met with lukewarm reception and the book was slightly undersubscribed, according to a banker close to the transaction. Proceeds from the offering are being used to build up a war-chest for acquisitions of assets in the Brazilian mall sector. The deal was led by UBS Pactual and Santander Banespa, each of which underwrote BRL80m. Citi took a BRL40m piece, according to Dealogic.
Category: Daily Brief
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Mexichem Lines Up Lead Banks
Mexichem, which produces and exports petrochemicals, has lined up its lead bookrunners for a $595m 5-year term loan at Libor plus 87.5bp, and is now looking for three to four MLAs, according to bankers away from the deal. Citi has sole lead books and BofA and ABN AMRO are lead bookrunners, though without league table credit.
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Fujimori To Enter Japanese Politics
Former Peru president, Alberto Fujimori, will apparently be standing for election in Japan after failing in his bid to run as a presidential candidate in Peru’s general elections last year. Fujimori is currently under house arrest in Chile after arriving in that country last year. He will stand for election to the upper house of Japan’s parliament in July as a representative of the People’s New Party.
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GE Taps Mosci LatAM Head
General Electric Co (GE) has tapped Marcelo Mosci to become the president and chief executive of GE Latin America, the company announced Wednesday. Mosci is the former general manager of GE’s Latin American healthcare unit.
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Latin America’s Wealthy Prosper
Latin America’s wealthy individuals posted the biggest increase in wealth accumulation last year, a 23.2% jump in 2006, representing the fastest growth of any region in the world, according to the 11th annual World Wealth Report, released Wednesday by Merrill Lynch and consulting firm Capgemini. Average GDP growth of 4.8% for the region, higher company valuations and an uptick in foreign investment increased individual prosperity, with Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile’s wealthy benefiting the most. Brazil alone registered a 10.1% jump in the total number of wealthy individuals. China’s growing demand for commodities, as well as its mounting direct investments in the region are driving wealth accumulation in Latin America. China accounted for roughly 16% of all foreign direct investment in LatAm last year; up from 2.9% in 2000, according to the report. And while portfolio flows continue to pour into Latin markets, the region’s wealthy are choosing not to invest their money at home. In 2006, they were the only group of high net worth individuals in the world to increase their investments in North America, most noticeably upping investments in real estate from 11% to 25% of their portfolios.
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Marfrig, Banco Daycoval Go Public
Brazilian beef producer Marfrig sold 525.5 million voting shares at BRL17 reais Tuesday raising $455m. Pricing came in at the low end of the BRL17-BRL22 initial guidance. Trading of Marfrig shares start today, Thursday, on the Bovespa. Merrill Lynch, ABN AMRO and Bradesco BBI led. Marfrig followed Brazilian meat firm JBS, which raised BRL1.6 billion ($810 million) in March. And Minerva, another beef sector exporter, filed in May to go public via Credit Suisse and Itaú BBA. Separately, Banco Daycoval priced its IPO late Tuesday raising $487.7 million for its sale of 55.88 million shares at BRL17 each, at the midpoint of its BRL14.5-BRL19.50 range. Shares start trading Friday on the Bovespa. Goldman Sachs and UBS Pactual led.
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Market Jitters Take Hold
LatAm and EM bond markets continued to trade poorly on low liquidity Wednesday as jitters over US-related factors set in. Latin American high-beta names like Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia closed down, though substantially off their intraday lows, and Arcor, an Argentine food company looking to price $100m in 10-year amortizing notes at 8.25%-8.50% via Citi, pulled out of the market, saying it would return when conditions stabilized. HPDA, the Argentine utility that had plans to issue $125m in 10-year non-call 5 notes via Merrill this Friday, has also been mum on price guidance. Traders said they are waiting to hear the FOMC’s view on the direction of the US economy for the rest of the year, and that the Bear Stearns subprime fund debacle has also dampened appetite for risk.
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Mexican Economy Grows 3.2% in April
Mexico’s economy grew 3.2% in April, increasing from yoy growth of 2% in March. National statistics agency, Inegi, said agricultural production was up 5.2%, services were up 3.8%, and industrial production was up 1.5%. The government is targeting 3.3% GDP growth for 2007, while the Bank of Mexico has set a forecast of between 3% and 3.5%. The Mexican economy grew by 4.8% in 2006.
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Mexico-Brazil Linkup On Track
The project to integrate the Mexican and Brazilian stock markets, so that investors in one country can trade securities directly on the other’s exchange, is on track, and is expected to be ready to go by the end this year, Cristiana Pereira, advisor for development at the Bovespa, tells LatinFinance. The aim of the initiative is to increase the liquidity of local public companies and encourage local listings over ADR taps. The technological part of the project is well under way, but participating Mexican and Brazilian brokerages, which will provide locals and foreigners with access to their respective exchanges, say the two countries are still wrangling over listing requirements for companies and Brazil’s local regulator in particular is insisting on a more thorough process to track the trades.
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Mexico’s Aeroinvest Places MXP2.1bn Europeso Bonds
Aeroinvest, a Mexican investment company owned by local construction firm ICA, has placed MXP2.13bn pesos in Europeso bonds, maturing 2017, according to a statement by its parent company ICA. The bonds are rated BBB minus by Standard & Poor’s. Aeroinvest, which has stakes in airport companies including a controlling share in Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA), is planning to use the money raised to pay off earlier acquisition finance loans used to buy the OMA stake.