Category: 2003

Shunned by the international bond market, Latin American companies are looking for local backing. But hooking up hometown bond buyers and companies remains a serious challenge.

Teodoro Petkoff, an influential newspaper editor and
anti-Chavista, says Venezuela needs sweeping reforms to revitalize its debilitated economy and political system corroded by corruption. But can it tolerate even more wrenching change after four years of upheaval under President Hugo Chávez?

Last year the Latin American capital markets were pummeled like never before. The good news is the worst appears to be over and smoother sailing should prevail in 2003.

At a time when liability management has become a euphemism for rebuilding shattered balance sheets, it is a relief to come across a faultlessly designed and executed deal. In a […]

One good thing about living through difficult times is that it elicits colorful language. Here is abrief selection of some of last year’s most memorable quotes about the region culled from El Universal, Clarin, La Nacion, Financial Times and Bloomberg. Argentina’s crisis promoted a number of public comments by people who later wished they had kept their mouths shut. But only Jorge Batlle, the loquacious president of Uruguay, tearfully apologized personally to his victim. He had insensitively described Eduardo Duhalde of Argentina as a man “who doesn’t know where he is going.” We will miss Paul O’Neill, the former US treasury secretary, if only for his refreshingly straight talk.

For a Latin American company issuing an international bond in 2002, Grupo Televisa could hardly have asked for more: 30-year money priced at just 305 basis points over US Treasuries. […]

The immense Orinoco River cuts and winds through more than 1,300 miles of Venezuelan rainforest and wetlands. Two years ago as part of a cross-country railway link, the government approved […]

A tough market conditions limit the use of securitized transactions in Latin America, companies that want access to long-term financing are finding additional ways to meet their capital needs.