Category: Caribbean

Trinidad & Tobago’s state owned oil company Petrotrin is on the road with a $750m 15-year amortizer. Citi has sole books. Moody’s rated the bond Baa2.

Digicel, the fast-growing Caribbean telecom, has expanded into Central America by offering GSM mobile services in El Salvador. The firm sees CentAm as its next big opportunity and already has a license in Guatemala. El Salvador has a population of 7 million with mobile penetration of approximately 33%, says Digicel. The country’s mobile market continues to enjoy sustained growth with mobile phones overtaking fixed lines service in 2002, it adds.

Jamaica’s economy grew by 2.3% last year, reported Statin, the country’s institute of statistics. Overall growth for the year was held back by a disappointing last quarter in which GDP expanded by only 0.7%, compared with the third quarter. Services and production led growth, while construction and manufacturing contracted.

US infrastructure financing and advisory firm CIFI, has announced it has arranged a $35 million debt facility for Belize Cogeneration Energy Limited (BELCOGEN), owned by Belize Sugar Industries. Funds will go to build a 31.5 MW biomass power plant, which seeks to meet 20% of the country’s energy demands and help reduce its reliance on foreign oil.

Canada’s Scotiabank is planning to extend its wealth management business across the Caribbean and Central America region, explaining that the pattern of the expansion will “reflect Scotiabank’s retail footprint in the region”. Last week it launched its Scotia Private Client Group in the Bahamas; it will roll out services in the Cayman Islands and the Dominican Republic over the next few months. Scotia Private Client Group will offer high net worth clients international brokerage and local private banking services. Additional services may be offered depending on local regulatory conditions. Where permitted, Scotia Private Client Group will also provide offshore private banking and onshore brokerage, as well as trust and estate services, said the Bank.

Trinidad & Tobago and Equatorial Guinea have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop natural gas projects in the two countries. Trinidad and Tobago – the world’s fifth-largest LNG producer – will send a team to Equatorial Guinea within the next few months to identify specific areas of cooperation.

Jamaica decided to test the waters of the international debt markets Thursday and sold $350 million of bonds maturing in 2039. The bonds came in tighter than the 8.25% guidance at 98.592 to yield 8.125%, equivalent to a spread of 346.7 basis points over U.S. Treasuries. Citi led the offering.