Peru plans to pay down its remaining outstanding $900 million in Brady debt and $1.8 billion in Paris Club debt by the end of the year, vice minister of economy Juan Miguel Cayo told LatinFinance. “We aim to pay down all the Bradies and non-concessional parts of our Paris Club debt this year,” Cayo said. Local issuance of bonds, which will help finance Peru’s liability management exercises, will likely total $2.5 billion this year, added the vice minister. That is more than three times the amount originally outlined in the country’s financing plan for 2007.
Category: Regions
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Colombia To Extend Local Yield Curve
Colombia plans to continue extending its local yield curve with a new peso-denominated 20-year benchmark Treasury bond (TES). The finance ministry said it plans to issue the new paper by the middle of this year. The new 2027 bond would replace the current longest fixed-rate TES paper, maturing in 2020. The longest inflation-linked TES, launched earlier this year, matures in 2023. The ministry said there may also be demand for a 30-year bond further down the line.
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Morales Says Elections May Be Next Year
Bolivian president, Evo Morales, has indicated that general elections may be held as early as next year if the country’s new constitution has been drawn up and approved by then. Morales began his five-year term at the beginning of last year but called for a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the country’s constitution with which to “refound” Bolivia. The Assembly has until this August to finish drawing up the new document after which it will be put to a national referendum, perhaps by the end of this year or the beginning of next. Once approved, the Constitution calls for new elections.
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Zabalaga Appointed New Bolivia Bank Superintendent
Marcelo Zabalaga has been appointed the new superintendent of banks in Bolivia by President Evo Morales. Zabalaga replaces Fernando Calvo Unzueta who comes to the end of his six-year term during which he has served no fewer than six presidents.
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Alicorp Sells Local Bonds
Peruvian food products company Alicorp sold $20 million-worth of local-currency bonds on Friday, receiving bids for more than twice the amount on offer. The 10-year bonds, which mature March 16, 2017, were sold to yield 6.16%. Citi was the sole lead.
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Ecopetrol Sale Slated For August
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.
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Mexico Prices Exchange Warrants
Mexico has sold $2.66 billion of exchange warrants – with the dollar bonds coming at $61 per unit to exchange each $1,000 face value of bonds and the euro-denominated paper at €20. Demand totaled $3.54 billion for the $2 billion dollar warrants and €530 million for the €500 million European currency warrants. Last week the sovereign launched an offer to buy back the external debt as part of its long-term plan to replace more foreign currency debt with local currency issuance. For $2 billion in dollar debt, of which there are 12 different eligible outstanding tranches with maturities ranging from 2009 to 2028, the sovereign will issue 1 million units. They are composed of two kinds of warrants exchangeable for 9.5% 2014 and 10% 2024 MBonos later this year. For €500 million in euro, Deutsche mark and Lira-denominated bonds, Mexico will issue 500,000 warrants that will also be exchangeable for 2014s and 2024s in September. The warrants are rated BBB/Baa1/BBB. At the end of 2006, Mexico’s foreign currency debt totaled $39.8 billion, of which $36.2 billion was market debt, according to the Mexican finance ministry. Last year, Mexico paid down $9 billion in non-market debt. Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs are leading the offer.
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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.