Banco de Credito del Perú and BBVA Banco Continental have benefited from the improving conditions of the sovereign rating of the Republic of Peru and have both had their Moody’s B1 long-term foreign currency deposit ratings placed on review for possible upgrade. The Agency also placed on review for possible upgrade the Ba2 rating for the $120 million in subordinated notes maturing in 2021 issued by Banco de Credito del Perú’s Panama branch.
Category: Regions
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Cemex Bid Earns Australian Regulator Approval
Mexican cement maker Cemex has received approval from Australian regulators for its hostile takeover bid for local building materials firm Rinker, according to Bloomberg. Cemex’s $11.7 billion offer last November was rejected by the company as “opportunistic” and “far too low”. Cemex is still awaiting approval from US regulators. The Mexican firm may have to sell some of its US assets to comply with US anti-trust requirements.
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Mexican Senate Fails to Confirm Hurtado
Mexico’s Senate has failed to confirm the nomination of Carlos Hurtado to the vacant seat on the board of directors of Banxico, Mexico’s Central Bank. Hurtado was nominated by President Felipe Calderón. Opposition lawmakers voted 68 to 45 to block the appointment because of Hurtado’s former position as deputy finance minister in charge of spending under Vicente Fox’s administration. The five-member Banxico board has had a vacant seat since the end of last year.
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Jamaica Sells $350 Million Bonds
Jamaica decided to test the waters of the international debt markets Thursday and sold $350 million of bonds maturing in 2039. The bonds came in tighter than the 8.25% guidance at 98.592 to yield 8.125%, equivalent to a spread of 346.7 basis points over U.S. Treasuries. Citi led the offering.
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Moody’s To Review Peru’s BB+ Rating
Moody’s Investor Service has placed Peru’s BB+ foreign currency rating on review for a possible upgrade. Peru’s sovereign debt credit rating got a boost on Tuesday after Fitch Ratings changed its outlook on the country’s ratings to positive from stable.
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Ecuador Constitutional Reform Continues To Provoke Conflict
Ecuadorian police have intervened in the continuing conflict between the country’s electoral court, TSE, and Congress over a proposed referendum on constitutional reform. The TSE suspended the political rights of 57 lawmakers after they voted to remove the Court’s president, Jorge Acosta. 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. Meanwhile, economy minister Ricardo Patiño has reportedly signaled that Ecuador will honor the second interest payment of $30.6 million on its global bonds due on May 15. Despite much talk of debt restructuring and even hints at a default by Correa during the election campaign and immediately after taking power, the government has so far met its foreign debt obligations.
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Kuczynski To Advise The Rohatyn Group
Former Peru prime minister, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has joined the emerging market investment specialist The Rohatyn Group as a senior advisor. Kuczynski will help develop private equity investments with a focus on Latin America, said the firm. Prior to becoming prime minister of Peru in 2001, Kuczynski served as minister of economy and finance, as well as minister of energy and mines. From 1994 to 2001, he was president and chief executive of the Latin America Enterprise Fund, a private equity firm.
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Peru Gets Rating Boost
Peru’s sovereign debt credit rating got a boost on Tuesday after Fitch Ratings changed its outlook on the country’s ratings to positive from stable, commenting that it believed “favorable public finance and external account trends will continue,” raising the likelihood of an upgrade “over a horizon of two years”. However, the agency warned that the concentrated nature of the country’s export base in commodities remained a “key credit weakness”. Peru is currently rated BB+ by Fitch, just one level below investment grade. The sovereign also carries a BB+ rating from Standard & Poor’s.
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Fenosa To Invest $400 Million In Mexican Energy
Spanish gas and electricity company Union Fenosa is to invest nearly $400 milllion in building a 450MW generating plant in Mexico. The plant will be located in Durango state and takes Fenosa’s generating capacity in Mexico to 2,000 MW. The new generator is expected to come on line in 2009.
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Thurston Replaces Flockhart At HSBC Mexico
HSBC has announced that Paul Thurston has replaced Sandy Flockhart as chief executive of its Mexico unit. Thurston has been with the Bank for the past 20 years, most recently in charge of personal and commercial banking for HSBC Asia. Flockhart will continue as executive president of Grupo Financiero HSBC’s board of directors, the group said.