Category: Chile

Suez Energy Andino, a subsidiary of France’s Suez, said it is looking to build a 400-megawatt generating plant in northern Chile aimed at supplying copper producer Codelco. The project would cost $450 million and include a terminal to offload fuel. The company has delivered an environmental impact study it hopes will allow the project to move ahead.

Chile’s Central Bank held its benchmark interest rate at 5% at its monthly meeting yesterday, Thursday. Recent figures show that Chile’s economic growth has weakened, prompting a hold on rates rather than an increase. The Bank last raised interest rates in April, when it put up the rate by 25 basis points from 4.75% to 5%.

Banco de Chile has issued $200 million of 10-year bonds. The bonds mature June 15 2016 and carry an interest rate of 6.285%. The issue was rated BBB+ by Moody’s Investors Service. The lead arranger was Deutsche Bank.

Campos Chilenos, the Chilean investment unit of UK company ED&F Man has announced it may sell up to 10% of local sugar producer Iansa. Campos Chilenos is Iansa’s largest shareholder, owning 45.13% of the company.

Chile’s economic growth slowed in April, with GDP expanding by only 2.8% year on year. Chile’s Central Bank said a slowdown in manufacturing and retail led to the drop in the pace of growth and may lead the Bank to hold back with increases in interest rates. Central bankers are scheduled to review rates on June 15. They last raised the benchmark rate in mid-April when they increased it by 25 basis points to 5%.

Chile’s largest bank, Banco Santander Santiago, has placed $205.7 million worth of inflation-linked local bonds, denominated in Unidades de Fomento. The 20-year bonds mature in 2026 and carry an interest rate of 4.57%.

Chile’s economy expanded by 5.1% in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2005, according to Central Bank figures. High export revenues from copper, the country’s main product, continued to drive GDP growth. The expansion comes after fourth-quarter growth of 5.8%. Last year Chile recorded its fastest rate in eight years, when it posted a 6.3% increase.

Chilean industrial conglomerate Grupo Angelini has paid almost $223 million for a 9.5% stake of local power company Colbún from Suez Energy Andino, the local subsidiary of the French group. Suez is selling its 19% share through JP Morgan and Larrain Vial. The acquisition, made through Angelini’s holding company AntarChile, gives Angelini the right to one seat on the board of directors.

Alberto Fujimori, former president of Peru, has been released on bail in Chile after almost seven months in jail. He is banned from leaving Chile on the order of the Supreme Court and is fighting extradition by Peru where he is wanted on charges of corruption and human rights abuses. Fujimori fled Peru in 2000 to exile in Japan. Last November he arrived in Chile stating that he was preparing to stand in Peru’s presidential elections this April but was arrested by Chilean authorities at the request of the Peruvian government. In January, Peru’s electoral court barred him from running in the elections.

Chile’s Central Bank has held the benchmark overnight lending rate at 5%, saying it did not see growing inflationary pressures. The bank conceded that headline inflation was in the upper half of the target range, but pointed out that underlying, core inflation lay in the center of the range. Last month the Bank raised the rate by quarter of a percentage point to curb inflation. Meanwhile, analysts pointed to slower-than-expected growth in the first quarter of the year.