Category: Argentina

The Argentine banking sector announced profits of $95 million in September, the highest monthly earnings so far this year. The figure for September represents 1.7% return on assets (ROA). Profits for the first nine months of the year stand at $400 million and ROA at 0.8%.

Venezuela is set to buy $1.2 billion of Argentine debt by the end of 2006 and will buy $300 million before year end. Venezuela already holds $950 million of Argentine paper. It last bought Argentina’s debt at the end of October when it purchased $300 million Boden 2015.

HSBC has outbid rivals to buy the Argentine operations of Italian bank Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). The UK bank offered $140 million, beating off a joint bid by local banks Comafi and Galicia. The acquisition will make HSBC the sixth largest bank in Argentina in terms of assets.

Argentina’s largest private sector commercial bank, Grupo Financiero Galicia, announced a profits rise of 146% in the third quarter due to increased operating income. Income rose 127% year on year to $8.9 million between July and September compared with a loss of $11.5 million in the same period in 2004. Earnings were up to $7.5 million against a loss of $16.2 million.

Argentina’s largest gas distributor, Metrogas, says it has improved its $440 million debt swap offer. It follows two years of failed negotiations with creditors. The new offer includes three options: a buyback of $750 in cash for every $1,000 of debt, or a choice of two different swaps of new debt, both due in 2014. The new offer is valid until 12 December.

Argentine Banco Hipotecario has decided to increase its planned issue of $100 million of notes to between $150 million and $150 million five-year bonds at 10%. The yield is above the 9.5% to 9.75% initially indicated. The issue is being arranged by Citigroup and Deutsche Bank Securities.

The Fourth Summit of the Americas, which took place on 4—5 November in the seaside town of Mar del Plata in Argentina, failed to reach a consensus on free trade and split the attending nations into two blocs. One group comprised the majority of the 34 nations and supported reopening negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish), championed by the US, which have been paralyzed for the past two years. Five countries refused to sign up to resuming talks on ALCA, among them Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela.

The Fourth Summit of the Americas opens today in the coastal Argentine resort of Mar del Plata. The two-day summit brings together the leaders of 34 countries in the Americas, who this year will focus on poverty reduction and economic development.

The board of Argentine bank Banco Hipotecario has voted in favor of making a new offer to acquire the local shares of Italy’s Banca Nazionale de Lavoro, despite opposition from the government which owns a golden share in Banco Hipotecario. The original offer, made in February, had been accepted by the Italian bank before the government intervened.

US software giant Microsoft has announced that it plans to invest $60 million over the next three years in Argentina. Microsoft said the money will be used to reinforce its presence in the country, support the development of the technology sector and work with the government to offer accessibly priced computers.