Venezuelan state owned development bank Bandes has acquired Bolivian microfinance bank and fund Prodem. Full price of the transaction was not disclosed but the Venezuelan bank paid BOB408 per share ($56) Prodem’s new general manager Bladimir Reveron tells LatinFinance. The Venezuelan bank aims to bring Prodem’s expertise in microfinance to Venezuela, Reveron says, as it eyes the opening of offices of the Bolivian bank in Venezuela. Prodem has 92 offices in Bolivia, as well as 250,000 clients and 1000 employees, according to its website. Bandes already has retail operations in Nicaragua and Uruguay, Reveron says.
Category: Regions
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LatAm, Caribbean See Record FDI
LatAm and the Caribbean received a record $106bn in FDI last year, according to the UN’s economic commission for the region, ECLAC. The figure is the highest since 1999, when investment totaled $89bn and flows were linked to privatizations, the commission says. The main recipient of investment in 2007 was Brazil, with $34.6bn, followed by Mexico with $23.2bn and Chile with $14.5bn. The leading foreign investors in LatAm in 2007 were the US, Spain and the Netherlands, ECLAC says. On a separate note, the multilateral estimates economic growth for LatAm and the Caribbean will be 4.7% in 2008, as deceleration of the world’s economy will have a limited impact.
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Ixe in Talks on GMAC Mexico
Mexico’s Ixe Grupo Financiero is in preliminary discussions with Residential Capital to purchase mortgage lenders GMAC Hipotecaria and GMAC Financiera. To keep up with the country’s larger banks, it is looking to expand in a growing Mexican mortgage sector that has largely been free of the problems plaguing lenders north of the border. Ixe has not yet determined the final terms and conditions.
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Colombia’s Davivienda to Start Subordinated Sale
Banco Davivienda is selling through June 12 up to COP100bn ($53.3m) in 2015 subordinated bonds denominated in pesos and UVR inflation-linked units. The amount of each type was not specified, but both will pay spreads of 665bp over UVR. The AAA rated issue is part of a COP300bn shelf opened in February with the placement of COP200bn. The bank’s own brokerage unit is managing the transaction.
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Moody’s Upgrades Mexico’s Cablemas
Moody’s has upgraded Mexican cable operator Cablemas’ corporate family rating and $175m of global notes due 2015 to Ba3 from B1. The agency also changed the rating outlook to positive. The action was prompted by the approval last week of the Mexican anti-trust regulator of the acquisition of a 49% stake in Cablemas by Grupo Televisa (rated Baa1 stable). “Moody’s perceives such an acquisition as positive for Cablemas’ business and financial profile as it will now count on Televisa’s ongoing support for its growth plans”, the agency says. This implicit support should afford Cablemas the opportunity to continue to improve its business prospects with regard to expansionary projects in the cable TV, internet and telecom voice markets, Moody’s adds. Last week, S&P placed on credit watch positive the BB minus rating of Cablemas, including the 2015, citing the Televisa acquisition.
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Moody’s Raises Kansas City Southern
Moody’s has raised the corporate family ratings of railway operators Kansas City Southern (KCS) and Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) to B1 from B2 with stable outlook. The action recognizes the company’s improving profitability, the agency says, as it expects domestic and Mexican operations to continue to grow and improve in the near term. KCSM is highly sensitive to conditions in the Mexican economy and to Mexican regulation, Moody’s adds. “Nonetheless, the company operates a geographically attractive concession in northeast Mexico with good growth prospects, and has shown strong recent improvement in operating performance.” KCSM has significant ongoing capital spending requirements, particularly for locomotives and line expansion, which will likely increase debt and slow further improvements in credit metrics, Moody’s adds.
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Colombia’s Benchmark Rate Likely Unchanged: GS
Colombia’s central bank is expected to leave its policy rate unchanged at 9.75%, according to Goldman Sachs, as indicators of activity show an unexpectedly large deceleration of activity in March and inflation accelerated in April. “This should lead to a steep yield curve as the small probability of a hike within the next 3-6 months should be priced out of the curve and replaced by an eventual small probability of a cut,” the shop adds. The Colombian central bank should remain concerned and vigilant on the inflation dynamics as the economy continues to grow at an above-trend pace, Goldman says. Core non-food inflation accelerated from 4.4% yoy in December to 4.7% in April, outside the 4.5% inflation target upper limit and non tradable inflation is still at an uncomfortable high 5.1% yoy, says the shop. The Colombia central bank has its policy meeting Friday.
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Colombia Starts Debt Swaps
Colombia’s government has executed a $100m currency swap, the first in its 6-month plan to swap rates on up to $2bn of its dollar-denominated debt. The program targets interest on loans from the Banco Internacional de Reconstruccion y Fomento with tenors ranging from 12 to 17 years. The finance ministry plans to announce on the 15th of each month the results of the swaps it has undertaken in the previous 30 days. It does not disclose banks used or interest rate obtained. Colombia has about $20bn in dollar-denominated debt.
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Infrastructure Fund Cashes out of Bolivian Gas
AIG-GE Latin America Infrastructure Fund (LAIF) said Monday that it sold its 9.7% stake in Transredes, the Bolivian gas transportation company. The $46.6m stake was divested on April 24 to YPFB, the state-owned oil company, and marks the largest deal done via the Bolivian stock exchange in the past five years, says EMP Latin America, the advisor to AIG-GE.
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Mexican Builder Readies Drillship Loan
Mexican builder Grupo R is preparing a retail syndication of a $600m 8-year loan supporting construction of a semi submersible drilling platform. The facility is built by Korea’s DSME and will operate under a long-term contract to Pemex. WestLB and BBVA are MLAs. The deal is not yet out to the market.