Ecuador is to buy back its outstanding 2012 bonds by January, ahead of the new government assuming power. There are currently $510 million of the 2012 bonds, the sovereign’s most expensive debt, in circulation. Last month the government bought back $740 million of the 12% bonds to save an estimated $20 million a year in debt payments. Ecuador is likely to tap the international bond market later this year; the government has been authorized to issue up to $900 million of new debt.
Category: Bonds
Posted inMagazine
Venezuelan Vital Stats
CAF’s $100 million bolivar bond issue in Venezuela brings some much-needed variety to local investors, and hopefully some vitality for the long-stale market as well.
Posted inDaily Brief
CAF Signs $80 Million Panama Loan
The Caracas-based Andean Development Bank (CAF) has signed at $80 million loan to Panama to be directed at improving and upgrading highways within the country, including the interoceanic route that runs parallel to the canal. Panama is contributing $45 million to the project.
Posted inDaily Brief
Guatemala Delays CAFTA Implementation
The implementation of Guatemala’s free trade agreement with the US (CAFTA), which should have come into effect on May 1, has been delayed due to a lack of consensus in Congress. Guatemala’s president, Oscar Berger, a champion of the agreement, has called the delay a “tragedy.”
Posted inDaily Brief
Colombia Central Bank Makes Surprise Rate Hike
In a move that surprised the markets, Colombia’s Central Bank raised the benchmark lending rate Friday by a quarter of a percentage point to 6.25%. The Bank chose to preempt inflationary pressures by raising the rate for the first time since April 2003. The move is also seen by the market as a demonstration of the Bank’s independence, coming as it does just ahead of presidential elections in May and just after comments by President Uribe that he didn’t want to see any rises in interest rates.
Posted inMagazine
Indexing Across Borders
Jamie Nicholson-Leener, head of Latin American corporate credit research at Credit Suisse, explains why her investment bank developed its Latin America Corporate Bond Index.
Posted inDaily Brief
Argentine Country Risk At 10-Year Low
Argentina’s country risk has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years driven by the performance of the country’s paper. According to JP Morgan’s Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI), local yield spreads over US treasuries – a key gauge of investors’ aversion to risky assets – tightened to 317 basis points at the end of last week. At the height of Argentina’s economic crisis in 2001/02 the Argentina EMBI was over 6,500 basis points; the capital markets were effectively closed to the country.
Posted inDaily Brief
Submarino Amends Offering
São-Paulo-based Internet retailer Submarino has withdrawn an offering of shares to retail investors after the Brazilian securities market regulator, CVM, said there may have been violations of the “quiet period” – part of disclosure regulation that forbids a company from making a public statement regarding its offering. However, the company is to go ahead with an offering for institutional clients. Submarino had hoped to raise around $300 million from the share offering. The sale is being arranged by Credit Suisse Group.
Posted inDaily Brief
Sivensa To Buy Back 15% Shares
Venezuelan steelmaker Sivensa is to buy back up to 15% of its shares in the next six months with the help of a $19 million loan from Deutsch Bank. The buyback, which will cost up to $24 million, is part of a refinancing plan for the company to regain shares held by creditor banks since 2002 when Sivensa restructured its debt. In March the company announced that it will issue around $100 million of new debt to help refinance its $113.5 million debt. The steelmaker, which manufactures steel products for the construction industry, is Venezuela’s second-largest private exporter.