Category: Argentina

Argentina consumer prices rose 0.4% in May, on a monthly basis, with the cost of food slowing to just +0.1%. Prices of apparel, meanwhile, were up 1.7%, while transport and communication prices rose 0.6%. The figures released by national statistics agency INDEC show cumulative inflation of 3.4% for the first five months of the year and 8.8% for the 12 months through May.

The Republic of Argentina may announce plans to tap the international markets with a peso-linked bond as early as today, according to market chatter. The sovereign, which has not tapped the international markets since its 2001 default, is heard to be looking to offer around $500m worth of 7-year peso-linked bonds. A yield of 12% or less is expected, according to a local banker. The notes would be offered under Argentine law, like several recent issues of Bonars, a move that apparently shields the issuer from claims on its coupon payments from holdout investors. No underwriters will be involved, according to bankers.

Tarjetas Cuyanas, the Argentine credit card issuer 60% owned by Banco Galicia, is set to announce price talk today, Wednesday, for $65m worth of 2012 amortizing peso-linked notes. The deal through Barclays and Banco Galicia is expected to price Thursday.

Argentina’s Banco Hipotecario plans to price next week a $200m issue of 3-year peso-linked notes. The deal will follow in the footsteps of Banco Macro, which sold $100m in 5-year peso-linked debt last week, and Banco Rio, which priced a deal in early May. A roadshow will begin this week in Europe and end on the East Coast next week. Deutsche and Citi are leading.

Carlos Ingham, country head of Argentina, Chile and Peru at JPMorgan Chase in New York will be leaving the bank in a few months, according to a report by Bloomberg. Ingham has been with the bank for the past 18 years. No replacement for Ingham has yet been announced.

Paraguay has appointed Paul Sarubbi to replace Angel María Recalde as the country’s chief executive in its Yacyretá hydroelectric plant on the Paraná river, jointly owned and run with Argentina. The management change is part of a wider reshuffle of government posts in an election year.

Spanish-Argentine oil producer YPF Repsol has confirmed its plans to sell up to 45% of the Argentine unit, YPF, in a filing with the local stock exchange. Earlier this year the company said it was considering floating between 15% and 20% of its Argentine business on the local stock exchange, although it made clear that the company would “maintain a clear majority stake in YPF” and that the sale of its capital in the company, under optimal conditions, would be aimed at private investors.

Argentine banks are scrambling to issue peso-linked debt in the hopes of raising inexpensive funding from this hot market. On Thursday, Banco Macro clinched $100m worth of 5-year peso-linked notes at par to yield 10.75%, the tight end of 11% area price guidance. Tarjetas Cuyanas, a credit card issuer, also announced an offering Wednesday of $65m worth of 2012 amortizing peso-linked notes, set to price next week. Roadshows are scheduled for New York and London. Banco Galicia, 60% owner of Cuyanas, and Barclays have joint books. Bankers report a robust pipeline of three to five year fixed rate peso issues in the offing. Among deals rumored to have been stalled by the moratorium is a $200m equivalent peso-linked offering from Banco Hipotecario, via Citi.