Category: Regions

BNP Paribas Personal Finance has raised MXP800m from the sale of a 2013 bond on the local market, according to regulatory filings. The Mexican unit of the French bank will pay the TIIE plus 112bp. Scotia and BBVA Bancomer managed the sale, rated AAA on a national scale.

Grupo Financiero Monex plans to privately sell shares Monday to be listed on the Mexican Bolsa, according to an official at the asset manager. The amount has not been set, and the official declines to state the expected value of the transaction. The deal will use the new SAPIB registry. Regulators created the SAPIB designation to give smaller issuers more flexibility in reaching governance standards. It is used for issuance smaller than MXP1bn – most recently in grower Proteak’s MXP790m offer. Monex plans to sell the secondary shares to existing shareholders, employees and institutional investors. It is self-leading the transaction.

Mexico continues diversifying its funding base to keep options open and take pressure off the local market. It is still pursuing yen, but unlikely to tap sterling, Gerardo Rodriguez, Mexico’s deputy undersecretary for public credit, tells LatinFinance. “[Sterling] is more a corporate type of market than a market for sovereigns. We see more room for example for Pemex to tap into that market rather than ourselves,” says the official. America Movil last month priced a GBP650m 2030 at 99.003, with a 5.750% coupon, to yield 5.836%. This equates to gilts plus 165bp, the tight end of 165bp-175bp guidance, on orders of GBP1.3bn. A banker familiar with sterling says it is not attractive for UMS versus other options. “Sterling has traded fairly wide of dollars, making it a challenge to execute,” says the banker. “Mexico wants to develop markets that it can come to on a regular basis,” he adds. Rodriguez says yen and euros are top priorities for Mexico. For yen, JBIC plans to renew its guarantee program with Mexico. “We are assessing the market opportunity also on a non-guaranteed basis. It’s not very clear yet which route will be the most efficient for us to go, but we’ll continue exploring that possibility,” he adds. In general, Rodriguez says there has been a change in investor perception of Mexico. “We have seen a lot of new names especially out of Asia going into the local market over the past 2-3 months,” he adds. UMS also hopes to gain increased participation from Europe in local issuance, following inquiry about peso bonds during a recent euro roadshow, says Rodriguez. Mexico has wrapped up its $2.4bn 2010 funding target and has $1.5bn and $1.4bn due in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Mexico’s first euro-denominated bond since 2005 kicks off a plan to tap European investors more frequently, the issuer tells LatinFinance. “We view this transaction as a first step towards a more recurrent presence,” says Gerardo Rodríguez, Mexico’s deputy undersecretary for public credit, speaking of the EUR850m 7-year global sold Thursday. “We may be in a position to perhaps come back to the euro market once or twice a year,” he adds. Mexico priced the 2017 at 99.757 with a 4.250% coupon to yield 4.291%, or 180bp over mid-swaps. The comeback was sized near the bottom of an expected EUR750m-EUR1bn range, after the book reached around EUR1.6bn, smaller than other recent LatAm euro trades. It nonetheless came tight to swaps plus 185bp area guidance. Further growth and tightening were possible, but the issuer chose to optimize performance in a market it will revisit, says a banker close to the deal. “It’s pretty attractive,” says a US-based investor who participated, estimating the pickup versus the comparable 5-year at around 30bp. The UMS dollar 2017 was around 150bp-160bp over swaps, according to Rodriguez, who says the spread is in line with the 20bp-30bp recent differential between the 2 currencies. He adds that it priced on the curve of existing illiquid 2015 and 2020 benchmarks. Bankers away from the deal say the pickup is fair given the premium payable on a new issue in dollars. The sovereign has been weighing euros for the last 12-18 months. It took advantage of improvement in Mexico’s fundamentals and risk perception as Europe deteriorates, says Rodriguez. Close to 180 accounts participated, some of them new to UMS. Asset managers bought 54%, insurance and pension funds 14%, hedge funds 14% and banks 14%. It went 62% to Europe, 20% to the UK, and 12% to the US. “It was very important to get this first transaction very well distributed,” says Rodriguez. He adds that recent Mexico political violence had no impact. “It has not been a relevant issue for investor