Colombia’s government Thursday said it hopes to start selling off a 20% stake in the country’s largest company, state-run oil concern Ecopetrol, at the end of August. The sale is set to become the largest privatizations yet by Alvaro Uribe’s administration, with analysts estimating revenue of around $3 billion from the sale. The money raised will be used to fund exploration and increase production. Ecopetrol is looking to mandate two investment banks in the second half of April to prepare the sale.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Ecuador Conflict Deepens
The political stand-off in Ecuador between lawmakers and the government has intensified with protests turning increasingly violent. Last week the country’s electoral court, TSE, suspended the political rights of 57 lawmakers after they voted to remove the Court’s president, Jorge Acosta. Protest and confrontation between the ousted lawmakers, police and supporters from both sides have escalated. President Rafael Correa has made constitutional reform a priority since coming to power in January. Shortly after his inauguration he called for a March 18 referendum to let the general public decide whether they want to rewrite the country’s constitution.
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Peru Economy Grows 9%
Peru’s economy expanded by 9.22% in January, the strongest year-on-year growth for this month in the past 11 years, according to national statistics agency INEI. Retail and manufacturing led growth, expanding 13.8% and 11.5% respectively. Construction was up by 11%. However, the mining and hydrocarbons sector contracted by 1%, largely due to a drop in output of gold as well as a lesser fall-off in copper and tin production.
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Claro Chile Secures $400 Million Syndicated Loan
Mexican mobile phone operator América Móvil has secured a syndicated loan worth $400 million via its Chilean subsidiary Claro Chile, the company reported. According to the Mexican parent, this is the largest corporate financing so far in the Chilean market. The five-year loan, through Santander, will be used to fund expansion of the operator’s coverage as well as modernizing its technology platform.
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Famsa Buys US Stores La Canasta
Mexican retailer Famsa has bought US store chain La Canasta for $37 million and will take over operations of the 12 outlets in California and Texas from 1 April, according to a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange. According to Famsa, La Canasta’s shops focus on the Hispanic community in the US and returned sales of $60 million last year.
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Mexico Sets Minimum Prices For Debt Exchange Warrants
Mexico set the minimum prices for the warrants in its $2.7 billion offer to exchange outstanding dollar and euro-denominated debt for locally issued Treasuries late Wednesday. The XWD07 and XWA07 warrants, which trade as a unit until September, will have a minimum price of $53.00, while the XWE07s have a minimum price of €20.00. The auction is being managed by Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.
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Telmex Snaps Up Ecutel
Mexico’s largest telecoms operator Telmex has acquired small Ecuadorian operator Ecuador Telecom (Ecutel) for an undisclosed sum. Ecutel, which has only around 5,000 clients nationwide, competes in the local market against state-run entities Andinatel, Pacifitel and Etapa. Ecutel has a 15-year concession until 2017 to offer national long-distance fixed telephony services, as well as public telephony services and data transmission.
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Venezuela, Nicaragua Sign Accords
Venezuela and Nicaragua have signed a series of agreements during a visit by President Hugo Chávez to the Central American nation. Venezuela has assigned $430 million to Nicaragua in projects covering energy, health and education. The lion’s share – or $340 million – is accounted for by cheap oil supplies, while $20 million goes towards capitalizing a branch of Venezuelan development bank Bandes in Managua. This is the second time Chávez has visited Nicaragua since the election of Daniel Ortega last year.
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Trinidad & Tobago Sign Gas MoU
Trinidad & Tobago and Equatorial Guinea have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop natural gas projects in the two countries. Trinidad and Tobago – the world’s fifth-largest LNG producer – will send a team to Equatorial Guinea within the next few months to identify specific areas of cooperation.
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Peru Taps Local-currency Issue To Sell $63 Million
Peru tapped its local currency 2026 bonds on Monday to sell $62.8 million worth (200 million soles) of the domestic paper. The funds raised will be used to meet non-financial public sector financing needs. The bond, which carries an 8.20% coupon was priced above par to yield 6.30%.