Mexico’s controversial 2006 broadcasting law – known locally as the “Televisa Law” after one of the major broadcasters – is to be rewritten following a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court. The Court objected to sections of the law which allow broadcasters to add digital services without bidding and allowed for automatic television license renewal. The law will be returned to Congress for reworking in the next few weeks.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Ecuador Foreign Debt Falls 4%
Ecuador’s foreign debt fell 4% in April to $16.99bn from $17.78bn in April 2006, according to Central Bank figures. The debt is now equal to 39% of Ecuador’s current $43.76bn gross domestic product.
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Air Jamaica Lands $125m
Air Jamaica hit turbulence Thursday with a $125m sale of 20-year amortizing 8.125% bonds, priced at 98.949 to yield 8.250%. Price talk ahead of the deal shifted around, with reports ranging from 7.625% to 8.000%. Thanks to what one buysider away from the deal identified as sellside trading support, the bonds closed the day at 98.100-99.100. Lead bankers quoted the bid-ask at 98.900-99.100, a hair below reoffer. Jamaica’s sovereign interpolated curve at the 15-year maturity widened out 10bp to 7.85% during the day, according to a banker working with Air Jamaica. Bear Stearns led. Average life was 15 years.
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Peru Tax Revenues Up 15%
Peru succeeded in increasing tax revenues by 15% in May, compared with the same month in 2006, according to figures published by the national tax agency Sunat. The $1.02bn total (3.23bn soles) included 1.51bn soles in income tax (+15.7%) and 1.05bn of value-added tax, or IGV, (+12%). Tax revenues accounted for 14.9% of GDP in 2006, and are forecast by the government to reach 16.5% of GDP by 2010.
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Ecuador CPI Up 0.03% In May
Ecuador reversed the deflation seen in April, with consumer prices rising 0.03% in May, reported local statistics institute Inec. The figures compare with a drop of 0.14% for the same month a year ago. For the 12 months through May, the consumer price index (CPI) was up 1.56%, compared with an annual rise of 3.11% through May 2006. On a cumulative basis, inflation was 0.48% between January and May this year. The government has forecast inflation of between 2.6% and 3.5% in 2007.
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Pan American Silver Plans To Expand in Bolivia
Canadian mining company Pan American Silver Corp. has announced it plans to expand production at its San Vicente silver-zinc mine located near Potosi, Bolivia with an investment totaling $40.5m. The expansion project will include the construction of a new 750 tonnes per day processing facility, together with the necessary related underground mine development. In connection with expanding production at San Vicente, Pan American has purchased Empresa Minera Unificada’s 40% interest in Pan American Silver (Bolivia), the operating entity of San Vicente, for $9m plus a 2% NSR payable only after Pan American has recovered its capital investment in the Project and only when the average price of silver in a given financial quarter is $9.00 per ounce or greater. As a result of this purchase, Pan American has increased its ownership interest in PASB to 95%, with Trafigura Beheer, an international commodities trading company, retaining its 5% minority interest.
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Air Jamaica on Runway with $125m 2027
Jamaica’ flagship airline, Air Jamaica, aims to price $125m in 2027 amortizing notes, with an average life of 15 years Thursday afternoon. The bonds, rated B1/B by Moody’s and S&P, are heard by a trader coming at 7.625%-7.875%, a slight pickup to where the sovereign would price the same maturity. A person close to the transaction says it should come at a modest concession to the interpolated curve which was around 7.75% area Wednesday night. The deal will not grow. Jamaica is guaranteeing the bonds. Proceeds will be used to revamp the fleet and pay down debt. Bear Stearns has sole books.
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Mexican Power Commission Seeks $160m
Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad is looking to raise a MXP1.75bn in 10-year floating rate bonds this Thursday. Price talk is 29bp over the 6-month Cetes. The offering is being led by Banco Ixe.
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Guatemala Prepares International Bond
The Republic of Guatemala has mandated Deutsche Bank for a dollar bond issue. Carlos Santizo Reyes, head of capital markets at the country’s public credit bureau, tells LatinFinance that the deal is still in its early stages, and timing and amount have yet to be decided. But bankers say the offering could be for up to $300m and longer than 10 years. Guatemala has a $150m bond coming due in August and additional maturities in 2011, 2013 and 2034.
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Moody’s Raises Panama Ceiling
Moody’s has upgraded Panama’s foreign and local-currency country ceilings for bonds to A3 from Baa1. “Panama’s country ceilings for bonds are meant to capture the risk of a disruption in the smooth functioning of the dollar payments system, as occurred during the 1988-89 political crisis,” says Moody’s senior analyst Alessandra Alecci. At that time, the US suspended the clearing arrangement between Panama and the Federal Reserve, and the Panamanian authorities imposed a nine-week bank holiday. Alecci adds that the upgrade reflects the marginal but real decline in such risk in light of continued relative macroeconomic and political stability. “Evidence of such stability is found in the responsible running of the Panama Canal since the handover from the US in 1999, and in the relative smooth running of government affairs despite periods of alternating power between the two main political parties,” says Moody’s.