Category: Chile

Chile’s Pampa Calichera says it plans to raise $320m in equity to develop its businesses and pay off debt. The holding company for mining, chemical and other interests plans to put the capital increase to shareholders at its January 19 meeting. Calichera owns a stake in chemical and fertilizer maker SQM, and is controlled by Inversiones Oro Blanco.

Chilean retailer Cencosud is set to meet investors ahead of what would be its first dollar bond, starting off a year LatAm bankers hope will see many first-time USD issuers. After being heard last month seeking a 10-year benchmark, Cencosud will meet investors January 6-11, in New York, London, Switzerland, Los Angeles, Boston, Bogota and Lima on a “non-deal” roadshow led by Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Santander, according to investors. Baa3/BBB minus Cencosud enters 2011 with an ambitious expansion plan, with analysts estimating a $1bn spend this year. Chileans could account for a decent part of issuance early in the year. CMPC has roadshowed and Falabella is expected with a benchmark as soon as this month. The first of a string of Argie debutants could also start appearing in January, from a pack including developer Raghsa and Argentine Gaming Group. “We should see a lot of high-yield issuance and new names early this year,” says a New York DCM banker, adding that some of the traditional January giants – Mexico, Brazil, BNDES, Petrobras, Colombia – also are monitoring markets. Among potential issuers, Brazil and BNDES will be faced with the choice of coming in USD or global BRL, while Petrobras must get cracking on what should be at least $4bn raised from capital markets in 2011. Also in the oil space, Argentina’s YPF is expected to return to markets soon, for about $600m.

The board of Chilean copper miner Codelco is expected to discuss the sale of a 40% stake it holds in power company EC-L, according to government sources. Analysts have estimated the stake to be valued at about $1.1bn. In September, the Chilean copper miner hired JPMorgan and LarrainVial to explore strategic alternatives for the stake. Codelco co-owns E-CL with France’s GDF Suez, which holds a 52.4% stake, in addition to a 7.6% free float. Proceeds of the sale will be used to finance Codelco’s investment plans.

Chile’s Corpbanca has called a January 27 shareholder meeting to propose a capital increase equivalent to $750m, or about 15% of the bank’s value. It plans to issue 40bn shares. The bank closed last week at CLP8.7. In September, it emerged that Corpbanca was in preliminary talks to sell a minority stake of no more than 10% to Banco do Brasil via a capital increase. Celfin estimates that as of July, Corpbanca had $1bn book value and annualized return on average assets of 20%.

Chile’s finance ministry said last week it plans to issue this year approximately $6bn equivalent in domestic debt denominated in pesos and inflation-indexed UF units. Issuance will include up to CLP450bn in 7-year bonds and a maximum of CLP450bn in a retap of 10-year bonds. The sovereign also plans to issue up to UF20m in a tap of its 5-year UF bonds, up to UF18m by reopening the 10-year, up to UF17m from a tap of the 20-year and up to UF17m through reopening the 30-year, the ministry says. The bonds will be placed via monthly auctions set to start in January.

Chilean natural-gas supplier Gasco has raised $116m equivalent by selling a 40% stake in local cement maker Polpaico. Gasco sold 7.31m shares at CLP7,500 each, CLP500 less than the asking price of CLP8,000. Some 25% was placed with retail, 30% with institutional investors and 45% to high net worth buyers. Banchile was the bookrunner. Proceeds will be used to fund Gasco’s development of projects in Chile and Colombia.