French food services group Sodexo has bought Brazilian peer Puras do Brasil for EUR525m ($738m). Sodexo is moving to improve its positions in high-growth emerging economies, and will pay cash, using funds on hand and some debt, a spokeswoman says. Privately-held Puras booked EUR500m in revenues last year, and Sodexo claims the 30 year-old provider is Brazil’s second-largest. Puras CEO Hermes Gazzola is to become non-executive chairman of Sodexo’s on-site service solutions activities in Brazil. Lazard advised Sodexo. Sodexo operated previously in Brazil, and counts operations in 10 LatAm countries. Puras specializes in on-site food services for businesses, as well as corporate meal voucher systems.
Category: Regions
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BCP Heard Preferring a Tier 2 Trade
Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) wrapped up investor meetings in Boston and New York Wednesday, and is leaning towards issuing a Tier 2 dollar bond, says an investor who attended the meetings. With BCP’s Tier 2 capital ratio at 17%, the bank is looking to issue a 10-year dollar bond of $300m or more to boost its Tier 2 capital ratio to 25%, he adds. Timing for the potential 144A/RegS issue could be as soon as this week if market conditions permit. BAML and Morgan Stanley took the Baa2/BBB rated bank through fixed-income investor meetings in Europe, the US and Latin America. BCP was last in the in the international markets in March, raising $700m in 2016s priced at 98.815 with 4.75% coupon to yield 4.792% or UST + 275bp. BAML and JP Morgan managed that sale.
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CABEI Brings Triple-Market Bond
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has placed $67.6m 10-year bond into three Central American markets, marking the first time a borrower has simultaneously registered and sold debt in three of the isthmus’s countries. The 2021 bond priced at par and offered buyers in Panama Costa Rica and El Salvador a coupon that steps up from 2% to 3% after year two, to 4% in year five and to 6% in year seven. Yield to call and yield to maturity for the $67.6m bond came in at 2.6% and 4.3%, respectively. The bonds are callable after 4.5 years. The development bank issued $31.6m in Costa Rica, $22m in El Salvador and $14m in Panama. Local pension funds and banks were the main investors. The multilateral bank’s issuance represents the first time a bond has been simultaneously registered and sold in three local capital markets in the region. Citi led the transaction, rated AAA locally in Costa Rica and El Salvador. A local rating in Panama was not required.
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Compartamos Sets Pricing Sights
Mexico’s Banco Compartamos is heard talking in the TIIE+65-70bp range for a new 5-year floating rate domestic bond. The microlender wants to issue up to MXP2bn ($160m), with pricing expected on September 22. Bancomer, Banamex, and HSBC are leads on the transaction, rated AA on a national scale. Compartamos last visited the local bond market in October 2010 when it sold MXP1bn in 2015 bonds, paying TIIE+130bp.
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Colombia Coal CEO Steps Down
Leon Teicher, president and CEO of Colombian coal miner Cerrejon has resigned, and will step down at year-end. The head of Cerejon, a joint venture between BHP Billiton , Anglo American and Xstrata that is the country’s largest coal exporter, says he will leave for personal and family reasons. The miner has yet to announce plans for a replacement.
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Daimler Preps MXP Bond
Car manufacturer Daimler Mexico is planning to issue up to MXP 1bn ($80m) in 3-year floating rate domestic bonds. The notes come with a guarantee from the Germany-based parent, and are expected to price September 29. Proceeds are to be used for refinancing debt and general corporate purposes. BBVA Bancomer and Santander are managing the sale, rated AAA on a national scale. Daimler last came to market in April, when it priced a MXP500m 3-year bond at TIIE+34bp through Santander, following 1.4x in demand.
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Exito Launches FO
Colombia’s Grupo Exito has started the sale period for its COP2.502trn ($1.40bn) equity follow-on, which will close September 23 and see allocations finished by the September 27. The retailer is offering 114.27m shares at COP21,900 each, which it says represents an 8% discount to the COP23,800 average price over the month to the announcement of the deal. The company’s shares closed at COP23,000 Tuesday. Majority shareholder Grupo Casino intends to subscribe in line with its rights, leaving 45% of the deal, or COP1.126trn worth of shares available to the public. Exito had indicated it would seek to raise $1.4bn in equity to help fund the June acquisition of Grupo Casino’s Disco, Devoto y Geant supermarket businesses in Uruguay for $746m. Casino holds a 62.5% in Disco and Geant, and a 96.5% stake in Devoto. Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Citi and Santander are managing the international sale, with Corredores Asociados leading the domestic portion.
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S&P Raises Peru Banks
S&P has raised the ratings on four Peruvian banks following last week’s upgrade of the sovereign to BBB from BBB minus. The system’s three largest, Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), BBVA Continental and Scotia Peru, were each lifted to BBB from BBB minus, with stable outlooks. The upgrade comes at a useful time for BCP, as it is finishing road shows this week for a possible cross-border bond, through Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. State-backed Corporacion Financiera de Desarrollo (Cofide), another with designs on a 144a deal before the end of the year, was also lifted to BBB.
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MBono Syndicated Auction Set for Wednesday
Mexico has scheduled its MXP25bn ($2bn) MBono auction for Wednesday. The 2031 bonds come with a coupon of 7.20%. The government began selling some of its domestic bonds through this type of larger syndicated sale in 2010 with the aim of allowing a large offering in one fell swoop rather than having to build outstanding size incrementally through a series of auctions. The bonds also qualify for inclusion in key indices and draw in a broader group of investors.
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S&P Raises Fertinal
S&P has raised the credit rating of Mexico’s Grupo Fertinal to B+ from B. “Fertinal’s financial performance has been strong relative to our expectations, particularly in the first half 2011,” the agency says. In particular, the fertilizer producer’s Ebitda for the 12 months ended June 30 was about $130m, up from $98m at the end of 2010. The increase reflects higher capacity utilization as a result of Fertinal’s ramp-up process and the continued increase in diammonium phosphate and mono-ammonium phosphate prices. The outlook is stable.