Colombia’s flagship airline Avianca is considering a handful of options to pay for its fleet renewal, which will include seven Boeing 787s and up to 35 Airbus craft of various models, according to executives close to the company. Avianca, owned by Synergy Aerospace Colombia, has hired Calyon to advise on debt financing options, which include syndicated loans, bonds and leases. Going public via an IPO is also one of the options being considered, and ECM bankers away from the deal say the company has already been approached by several firms for equity advice. Avianca is negotiating a $65m financing with HSH Nordbank.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Infonavit Preps $200m RMBS
Mexico’s state-owned mortgage lender Infonavit is planning a $200m-$250m UDI-denominated issuance of Cedevis residential mortgage-backed securities on the local market. The timing of the sale has not been set, but is expected in early October, Miguel Angel Hernandez, Infonavit’s IR officer, tells LatinFinance. The issue follows Infonavit’s July issuance of MXP2.7bn in Cedevis, its biggest ever RMBS and among the largest in LatAm. Su Casita, a private Sofol, is also heard to be considering a domestic RMBS of up to $300m.
Posted inDaily Brief
Santander Heard Planning Jumbo Peso Bond
Banco Santander in Mexico is heard lining up a jumbo certificados bursatiles deal in Mexico, partly to help participants with no natural funding base get a piece of this landmark transaction. Mexico City-based-bankers not on the deal expect a program worth up to $2bn to be registered locally, which would also be used for general funding purposes.
Posted inDaily Brief
Markets Shrug at Guatemala Runoff
Guatemala’s bonds have traded only marginally higher following Sunday’s election results which led to a runoff scheduled for November 4. The bonds do not appear to be affected as the market expected the contest to go to a runoff, says a trader whose shop trades the notes. Former general Otto Perez Molina will face center-left businessman Alvaro Colom, after Colom won the first round with 28%, to Perez Molina’s 24%. Neither candidate is expected to alter Guatemala’s current monetary policy. “We expect the outcome of the election to be largely neutral from a credit standpoint,” according to a Bear Stearns in a report.
Posted inDaily Brief
ICA Readies $450m Follow-On
Mexican construction and concession operator ICA has launched a roadshow for an international follow-on offering that may raise $450m-$500m, according to estimates by people close to the company. The builder, which has recently entered the spotlight by winning concessions to operate the first FARAC toll roads and the La Yesca hydroelectric project in Mexico, is raising the funds to help finance its equity investments in these projects. It will invest $239m of the proceeds in the FARAC. The company is listed in Mexico and has ADS in New York, and will be tapping both those markets, issuing 23m shares on the Bolsa and 55m shares on the NYSE. Citi is leading the US offering, with Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Merrill Lynch as joint leads. The local offering is being led by Banamex and Santander. The US pricing is scheduled for September 25.
Posted inDaily Brief
Credit Suisse Eyes Europeso Issue
Credit Suisse is planning to issue a MXP-denominated global bond in the coming weeks, according to investors in touch with the issuer. The capital will be drawn from the bank’s European MTN program, worth €15bn. The exact amount of the issuance is unclear, but MXP-denominated global bonds tend to range between $100m and $300m. Two weeks ago, Credit Suisse underwrote a MXP1.12bn issuance of 2022 15-year notes at 8.35% for GECC.
Posted inDaily Brief
Posadas Reported in Running for Aeromexcio
Mexico’s Grupo Posadas, owner of the Mexicana airline, plans to bid for the holding company that controls struggling rival Aeromexico, say wires, citing unnamed sources in the Federal Competition Commission (CFC). The government is shopping a 62% stake in Consorcio Aeromexico. The Saba family has reportedly already made a $100m bid. Posadas and CFC declined to comment.
Posted inDaily Brief
Ecuador Reported Plotting Bond Swap
Mauricio Davalos, Ecuador’s minister of economic and production policy coordination, says his government is considering a bond swap that could total $3bn, according to a report by Bloomberg which cites a TV interview with Davalos. He adds that the country is concluding negotiations to borrow more money from the IDB and CAF, and doesn’t foresee the need to tap international debt markets at this time. Davalos projects the economy will expand by more than 4% in 2008, up from the 3.5% the Finance Ministry expects for this year. Moody’s estimates GDP will expand at 3.0% in 2008, down from an expected 3.5% in 2007.
Posted inDaily Brief
Enarsa Opens Pipeline Bids
Argentina’s Enarsa has received six offers for its tender to supply some $740m in piping for a $1.64bn GNEA natural gas pipeline, the government said in a statement. Offers came from Mexican pipe manufacturer Tubacero, Switzerland’s Leman Commodities, Argentina’s Siat, controlled by Tenaris, China Metallurgical, China Petrochemical and India’s Jindal Saw. Installation of the 1,500km in piping, part of a system bringing gas from Bolivia, should be completed mid-2009.
Posted inDaily Brief
Metrofinanciera Raises MXP2.4bn In MTN
Mexican sofol Metrofinanciera has tapped the Mexican peso bond market for MXP1.6bn in a deal that closed Monday. The housing lender issued MXP800m in 3-year notes and MXP1.6bn in 2-year notes, priced at 98.45 and 99.00 respectively. The issues marked the first two series from the company’s MXP7bn local bond program. IXE, Vector and Santander were the lead placement agents. It is rated Baa2.mx and B1 globally. Mexican issuers have increasingly been issuing shorter-dated bonds as market conditions have tightened.