Category: 2020 Q2

Dear Reader, Poof! In the span of less than six months the world’s economy has been burnt to a crisp by a microscopic killer. Neither the tools we use in the financial markets nor in the political arena seem to very effective in extinguishing this painfully drawn out health firestorm. The loss of human life […]

Interview with Dennis EiseleHead of Debt Capital Markets for Latin America, Credit Suisse Latin American debt markets rebounded sharply from their COVID-19 pandemic-related shuttering at the end of the first quarter of 2020. The expectation is that after sovereigns rushed to get back into the market at attractive rates, the corporate sector will use the […]

Interview with Edward EvansPortfolio Manager, Ashmore Investment Management Trying to see through the fog of the COVID-19 pandemic for equity investors is likely just as effective as trying to successfully predict where equity markets will close out one of the most historic years on record, and there are six more turbulent months to go. Latin […]

Interview with Otavio Vasconcelos de AzevedoM&A Executive Director, BTG Pactual Blue chip companies and investors are beginning to explore potential acquisition targets in Brazil, but heightened country risk and lingering uncertainty are making many reluctant to pull the trigger, said Otavio Vasconcelos de Azevedo, M&A Executive Director at BTG Pactual in São Paulo.  After a […]

Interview with Eddy LacayoHead of Corporate Lending Latin America, BBVA Faced with an unprecedented economic shock, the past three months in the Latin American loan market has seen activity drop to low levels, with smaller-sized deals providing the majority of deals being pushed through as many businesses postpone their capital expenditures and focus on liquidity needs, […]

Government reactions to the pandemic in Latin America have varied, with some launching big fiscal stimulus packages while others have taken more muted approaches. All face the same struggles of fighting a health crisis that renders economic forecasting even more of a guessing game. Many Latin American nations implemented some of the world’s earliest and […]

Wealth management is about making educated guesses and holding convictions. In the COVID-19 age those calculations take on additional weight as the level of unknown unknowns increases. When the novel coronavirus spread to Latin America in March, investors shuddered as economies went on lockdown. The S&P Latin America 40, an index of leading stocks, plunged […]

The addition to the global lexicon of contactless delivery and social distancing plays directly to the strength of the digital transformation underway in Latin America’s financial sector. The COVID-19 pandemic is speeding that process to a greater scale than ever before. As Peru was becoming a new global coronavirus hotspot in early June and economic […]

At this moment in time, Latin American markets and economies are flashing red, yellow and orange. It is likely that investors will be looking to cement green financing into their portfolios as the world emerges from the ashes of COVID-19. The coronavirus epidemic could set off an unprecedented flow of private resources towards ESG (environmental, […]

Rising ethanol and sugar prices are bringing much-needed relief to Brazil´s debt-laden producers. Resolving the industry´s structural and financial weaknesses will be much more difficult Brazil´s ethanol and sugar (E&S) producers are no stranger to market volatility. From political and economic turmoil, to poor harvests and abrupt regulatory U-turns, crises have been a feature of […]