Pemex is preparing to meet bond investors in Europe next week, according to people familiar with the matter. Starting Monday, the Mexican state-owned oil producer will visit London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris, finishing Wednesday. BBVA, Credit Suisse and HSBC are managing. A transaction may follow if market conditions permit. Pemex last issued in euros in 2009, pricing a EUR1bn 2017 at 99.311 with a 5.500% coupon to yield 5.623%, or mid-swaps plus 250bp. When laying out international issuance plans for 2013, company officials had said they would monitor the euro market as well as some South American currencies – Peru and Colombia the most likely – for potential issuance in addition to USD. Pemex also plans to become a more regular Mexican domestic market issuer. Its last visits to the international bond market were US Export-Import bank-backed deals in September and October, raising $350m and $750m.
Category: Regions
Ecopetrol Names CFO
Magda Manosalva has been named as CFO of Ecopetrol, the Colombian state-owned oil producer says. She was VP for finance and administration at refinery operator Reficar, until last month, and was previously Ecopetrol’s head of treasury. Manosalva replaces Mariana Echeverry.
PdVSA Talks Bond Sale
Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) plans to sell $4.5bn in new bonds this week in a private placement, according to public remarks made by Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez cited in wire and local press reports.
The debt sale would be the first out of Venezuela this year, and would help the company to meet its commitments through the end of the year. The official did not give details about maturities or pricing. PdVSA has not issued bonds since a $3bn sale in May of 2012, and the Venezuela sovereign has been out of the market since 2011, according to Dealogic data.
Fitch Raises Outlooks for BBVA, Santander Units
Fitch has changed the rating outlooks for BBVA Colombia and Banco Santander Chile to stable from negative, it says, following similar moves at the parents. BBVA Colombia (BBB) and Santander Chile (A+)
each remain core to their parents’ global business, Fitch says. All of the pair’s regional subsidiaries have generally maintained strong balance sheets and robust performances through the crisis and contributed on average about 25% of their profits since 2010. The subsidiaries should also help shield the banks from softer numbers inside Spain.
HSBC Mexico to Issue Rare Local Bond
HSBC Mexico plans to issue up to MXP5bn ($379m) in the domestic bond market, according to people familiar with the deal, what would be the bank’s first domestic deal in four years. The Mexican arm of HSBC Holdings is selling 5-year floating-rate bonds and 10-year fixed-rate bonds, with pricing tentatively scheduled for December. Proceeds would help fund the bank’s portfolio. HSBC’s own capital markets arm is managing the transaction, rated AAA on a national scale. Its last domestic offering was a MXP4.180bn subordinated bond sale in June 2009.
Pepsi Bottler Readies Debut
Mexico’s Cultiba is preparing to raise up to MXP1.2bn ($91m) in what would be its domestic bond market debut, according to regulatory filings. The beverage company is targeting 5-year floating- rate notes to raise funds for general corporate purposes. Banorte-Ixe and Santander are managing the transaction, rated AA/AA minus on a national scale. Cultiba has a license from Pepsi to produce, distribute and sell Pepsi and several other brands and is also involved in the production of cane sugar and molasses. The issuer formerly known as Embotelladoras Unidas raised MXP3.94bn ($310m) in an equity follow-on in January that largely served as a re-IPO.
Vitro Nears Domestic ABS
Mexico’s Vitro plans to price a domestic ABS of up to MXP1.2bn ($91m) Thursday, according to people familiar with the transaction. The 3-year floating-rate deal backed by accounts receivables would be the glassmaker’s first local bond since before its bankruptcy process. Proceeds will be used to fund operations. The issuance is rated AAA on a national scale and led by BBVA Bancomer and Banorte-Ixe. Vitro last priced a domestic bond in 2005, raising MXP550m, according to Dealogic data.
Guatemalan Waits on Bond Debut
Guatemalan sugar producer and exporter Ingenio Magdalena has decided to postpone plans to issue its first international bond, citing pricing disconnect and treasury volatility, Rudy Maza, the issuer’s financial planning and risk manager tells LatinFinance. “We will look for a new window in 2014,” he says. He highlights a widening of the 10-year UST to 2.77% and a preference to revisit debut bond plans under more favorable market conditions and following the February US Fed meetings. With Brazilian sugar producers trading in the high double digits, Maza notes the difficulty in convincing buyside investors to buy into a challenging sector. “That was the main challenge, but Ingenio Magdalena is not Brazil,” he says. Magdalena found recent Guatemala deals trading in the 7%-area as interesting pricing points for its debut, despite differences in rating and sector. Ingenio was looking for a $400m bond transaction, according to Fitch, which assigned a BB minus rating, at a 5-10 year maturity. The issuer was raising funds to refinance existing debt and for general corporate purposes. Citi and JPMorgan were managing the BB minus/BB minus transaction. After six cross-border transactions pricing last week, no new issuers have stepped out on the road to refill the pipeline. Coca-Cola Femsa, among the group marketing last week, finished a roadshow Thursday without any indication of a deal.
IDB Loans to Bolivia
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to provide $57m in loans to Bolivia to improve rural irrigation systems, it says. The package includes a $45.7m 30-year loan with a 6-year grace period and undisclosed fixed interest rate, coming from the bank’s ordinary capital. A second $11.4m 40-year loan comes from the IDB’s fund for special operations, and has a 0.25% interest rate.
AXA Taps Colombian Growth
French insurance group AXA was seen paying a reasonable price to acquire control of Colpatria’s Colpatria Seguros insurance business, in a EUR259m ($346m) transaction that is the latest M&A deal in a busy and often expensive Colombian FIG sector. The move represents about 13x earnings, analysts say, which puts it in line with deals AXA and other global powers have done in the emerging markets. “It’s a reasonable and rather attractive transaction given the growth prospects in this market,” Daniel Bischof, analyst at Helvea tells LatinFinance. He says the 13x figure compares to a 10x figure in Zurich Financial’s $1.67bn purchase in 2011 of Santander’s LatAm insurance operations, and a 15x-16x level seen in the $879m purchase by Allianz of Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Sigorta earlier this year. “Paying 13x for a number four position in a fast-growing market where the target is making money is attractive,” Peter Eliot, analyst at Berenburg Bank tells LatinFinance. Colpatria Seguros is Colombia’s fourth-largest insurance company, with a market share of 7%, AXA says. The move is in line with a previously communicated emphasis on EM growth markets. The transaction, reached through a controlled auction process, is subject to the usual regulatory approvals and is expected to close in 2014. UBS advised Colpatria, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Gomez-Pinzon Zuleta as legal advisors. JPMorgan advised AXA, with Debevoise & Plimpton as legal advisor.