Bolivia, via state-owned oil concern YPFB, has paid the first of two tranches of $56m to Petrobras in compensation for assets seized earlier this year. Last month, after much wrangling, Bolivia agreed to pay $112m to the Brazilian state-owned company in compensation for the two refineries ‘reclaimed’ as part of Bolivia’s hydrocarbons nationalization program. Petrobras bought the assets for $104m in 1999 from Bolivia’s YPFB as part of a privatization initiative.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Peru Central Bank Sticks on 4.5%
Peru’s central bank held the benchmark interest rate at 4.5% Thursday, despite some analyst expectations that the higher-than-expected May inflation figures would prompt a 25bp hike. The key reference rate has now remained unchanged since May last year.
Posted inDaily Brief
Peru’s Intergroup to IPO
Intergroup Financial Services, the main shareholder of Peru’s Interbank filed to sell 20.9% of Interbank in a local and offshore 144a equity offering Friday. The sale of 19.23m common shares in the global offering and 18.69m common shares in a Peru offering should raise between $230m and $270m based on the indicative price range of $12-$14 a share. Pricing is set for June 20. Selling shareholders are IFH Peru Ltd, Wimsie Investments and Inversionista Golden Hill. Proceeds are for Interbank’s expansion and possible acquisitions. Citi is global coordinator and Citicorp Peru and Centura are handling the local sale.
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Mexico’s “Televisa Law” To Be Reworked
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.
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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.
Posted inDaily Brief
Interbank Plans to Raise Up To $270m via Global Share Offering
Peruvian holding company Intergroup Financial Services, which owns Interbank and Interseguro, is to float 21% of its stock via local and international share offerings later this month. Intergroup anticipates selling around 19.2m shares in a global offering, of which around 18.7m will be sold in the local market. A guide price of between $12 and $14 per ordinary share has been given. Intergroup said the money raised will be used to finance expansion of Interbank, for general corporate purposes and for potential strategic acquisitions in the Peruvian financial services market.
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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Cemex Wins Control of Rinker
Mexican cement producer Cemex Thursday announced it had won control of Australian building materials firm Rinker after obtaining over 50% of the stock. The company declared its offer for Rinker unconditional and said the offer price of $15.85 was final. It also said it was looking forward to integrating the Australian firm. All Rinker directors are due to retire from the board in favor of Cemex appointments with a formal handover of the company set to take place towards the end of this month. Cemex originally made a hostile bid for Rinker last year and had to increase its bid to $14.2bn before winning the backing of its management.
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Eutelsat Offers For SatMex
French satellite operator Eutelsat has made an offer to acquire Mexican satellite company Satélites Mexicanos (SatMex) along with two Mexican partners – Groupo Miguel Aleman and Groupo Clemente Serna. No financial details of the offer have been revealed. SatMex successfully restructured last year to position itself as a target in the consolidating satellite communications sector. It appointed Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale to a strategic buyer. The restructuring, which has been praised for its fair treatment of foreign creditors, left 78% of the company’s equity in the hands of the debt holders. The remaining 22% is held by the Mexican government (20%) and jointly by local telco Principa and US operator Loral (2%).
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Fenosa Invests €600m in Mexican Power
Spanish power utility Unión Fenosa has announced a €600m ($870m) investment in “green” energy in Mexico with a view to exporting electricity northwards to the US state of California. The state has committed itself to cutting carbon emissions and to use 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. The Spanish company will take advantage of Mexico’s 2,700 hours per year of useful sunlight, said Unión Fenosa chief executive, Honorato López Isla, speaking at a press conference.