Category: Bonds

The IDB says that it will increase the program limit for its trade finance facilitation program to a maximum of $1bn from $400m. It says it will also add loans to its offering of guarantees and support non-dollar-denominated trade finance transactions. The enhancements come in response to the global financial crisis. The TFFP comprises a network of 198 confirming banks from 70 international banking groups, and 41 issuing banks in 15 LatAm and Caribbean countries, with $756m in approved credit lines.

Cabei has priced a TWD1.9bn ($57m) 2-year fixed rate bond in the local Taiwan market at par to yield 2.60%. The issue is the third tranche from a TWD7.0bn program, following a mid-December issue of TWD1.3bn, and a TWD1.8bn follow up Tuesday. The Central American multilateral wanted to wrap up the third piece before Chinese New Year, a Cabei official says, and a fourth is likely in February. The lender rated A2/A minus is also planning 2 issues in other countries for January or February. HSBC is sole bookrunner on the TWD issuance.

Cabei has priced a TWD1.8bn ($54m) 2-year fixed rate bond in the local Taiwan market at par to yield 2.60%. The issue is the second tranche from a TWD7.0bn program, following the mid-December issue of TWD1.3bn. Three institutional investors bought into the deal, Cabei treasurer Felix Magana tells LatinFinance. It featured a gradual, non-public book building process where the size of the issue is tailored to investor demand. Three different buyers participated in the first tranche, he says. “It was very important to launch a deal at the end of the year as a message to the markets,” Magana explains. He says a third tranche can be expected later this month, with a fourth likely in February. The lender rated A2/A minus is also structuring 2 issues in other countries for January or February, he explains, declining to state where. Cabei has now issued 5 times in Taiwan, a member nation of the Central American multilateral bank. HSBC is sole bookrunner on this and the first series of TWD issuance.

The IDB has approved a loan of up to $75m to Noble Argentina so it can build a soybean crushing plant in Santa Fe province. “The IDB financing will help Argentina cement its position as a major player in the international market for soybean byproducts, as the new plant could generate more than $640m a year in exports,” says IDB project team leader Martin Duhart. Separately, the IDB says it will double its annual grants to Haiti to $100m in 2009. The multilateral gave the country $50m in grants in 2007 and 2008. The funds will go to investments in social and economic programs.

Caracas-based multilateral CAF says it is sitting pretty for funding and in no hurry to come back to the bond market. “We’re not in a rush. We have very high liquidity and we are waiting for conditions to improve,” Gabriel Felpeto, CAF’s director of financial policies and international issues tells LatinFinance. CAF returned last week to Colombia’s local market with an oversubscribed bond issue at apparently attractive levels. It issued Tuesday COP245bn ($110m) total, split between an 11.25% of 2013 and an 11.79% of 2018. Pricing was equivalent to 65bp over TES, while other Triple As came recently at 100bp-120bp over TES and 65bp was in line with the target, he adds. “We didn’t have the need this year but we had the opportunity,” says Felpeto. The deal through BBVA was the debut from a COP1trn 3-year CAF program and the first from the multilateral since 2004. Felpeto adds that CAF is looking at tapping other local currency like Peru and Mexico, while also monitoring the USD market. CAF was hit last week with a negative outlook from S&P on its A+/A-1 rating amid concerns about exposure to Ecuador, which is in default, as well as Venezuela and Argentina. The multilateral is among the region’s highest rated borrowers and typically leads the way back for issuers when markets slam shut.

The IDB has approved a $400m loan to El Salvador so the sovereign may increase the availability of credit to the private sector. The loan is for 5-years, including a 3-year grace period, and priced at 6-month Libor plus 400bp. The central bank will use the funds to purchase short-term portfolio receivables for working capital and trade financing, thereby providing local financial institutions with new short-term loans for working capital and trade credits.

The IDB has approved a $500m loan for Costa Rica. The funds will help the country’s central bank extend lending in dollars to local financial institutions so that they can channel additional credit for working capital and trade financing to exporters and other enterprises within the export chain. The loan is for a 5-year term, with a 3-year grace period, at 400bp over 6-month Libor on an annualized basis.