Colombia’s leading brokerage firm Interbolsa is to issue $102 million (230 billion pesos) worth of bonds to help with cashflow and expansion plans. Interbolsa plans to go to the market in April or May. Last year, the brokerage’s earnings rose 186% to $20 million. The company plans to push ahead with national and regional expansion over the next few years. It began operations last October in Panama and is currently eyeing Ecuador and Peru as possible markets in which to expand.
Category: Regions
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Colombia Lobbies For Upgrade
Colombia’s finance minister, Alberto Carrasquilla, is due in New York this week to meet with the major ratings agencies to lobby for an improvement in the perception of his country’s risk. Last Friday, the EMBI risk index, a measure of Colombia’s external debt, dropped to its lowest level ever of 162 points. And on the domestic front, Colombian benchmark treasuries due September 2014 were yielding 7.58% at the close of last week, the lowest rate since they were launched in 2004.
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Bolivia: FDI Trends Downwards
Foreign direct investment (FDI) to Bolivia has been trending downwards since 1998, according to figures released by the Economic Development Ministry. FDI flowing into Bolivia has fallen on average 8% year on year for the past seven years from $861 million a year (net: $776 million) in the boom period between 1996 and 2002 to $495 (net: $175 million) between 2003 and 2004. In 2005, between January and September, net FDI totaled $86 million, compared with $77.8 million for the same period in 2004.
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Televisa To Buy Univision?
Mexican broadcaster Televisa may be looking to buy US partner Univision, which has said it is considering selling. Univision is the leading Spanish-language media outlet in the US. Grupo Televisa, Mexico’s largest broadcaster, currently holds an 11% stake in its US partner. However, in order to buy Univision, Televisa will need to find a way around US foreign ownership law that forbids majority foreign ownership of media companies. Although, there has been speculation that Televisa’s determined CEO, Emilio Azcárraga, may apply for US citizenship, it is thought more likely that the Mexican company will seek to partner a US private equity firm. Interestingly, Univision was founded by Azcárraga’s grandfather Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta.
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Mexico Core Inflation Record Low
Mexico’s core inflation, which excludes energy, fruit, vegetables and education prices, fell to 2.98% in January compared with the same month last year. Core inflation for the month was 0.24%. Headline inflation, meanwhile, rose 0.59% month on month to 3.94%, the highest level in five months. Mexico enjoys the second lowest annual inflation in Latin America (behind Peru). Economists expect the low core inflation to lead the central bank to ramp up benchmark interest rate cuts.
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Humala Falls Behind
Peruvian presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala, has seen his share of the vote fall 8 percentage points to 18.4% in the most recent opinion polls. Humala, a retired lieutenant colonel, has now slipped behind ex president Alan García who polled 20.8%. Conservative front-runner Lourdes Flores continues to consolidate her lead with 27.2% of the votes. Elections are due to be held on April 9.
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Colombia Plans Debt Repayment
Colombia is planning to prepay around $580 million of its debt in the first half of this year to reduce its debt burden by canceling its highest-cost debt. The government will probably look to further lower the portion of its foreign-currency debt to reduce forex risk. Analysts believe multilateral credit and syndicated loans will also be targeted. Last year Colombia prepaid $2 billion of its debt including a $1.25 billion emergency credit granted by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2003 for five years. The loan represents 25% of its outstanding debt with the IDB.
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Satmex Agrees Debt Swap
Following two years of negotiations, Mexican satellite service provider Satelites Mexicanos (Satmex) has reached a deal with its debtholders to swap $523.4 million debt outstanding. The swap will include exchanging part of the debt for equity and longer-term debt. Floating-rate notes due 2004 worth $203.4 million will be swapped for new five-year paper; a further $320 million of bonds in default will be swapped for seven-year notes and shares in the company. Satmex’s debt totals $700 million, of which it owes $188 million to the government.
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Gil-Díaz to address investors at Miami Forum
Francisco Gil-Díaz, Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico will deliver a key-note address at the next Latin American Borrowers and Investors Forum in Miami on February 16th. The forum will bring together the leading institutions and individuals that shape Latin America’s capital markets including Jeff Huther, Director of Debt for the U.S. Department of Treasury; Atul Mehta, Head of Latin America & the Caribbean at the IFC; Andreas von Wedemeyer, President of AFP Profuturo and Arthur Steinmetz, Head of International Bond Trading at Oppenheimer Funds Inc.; among others. To learn more please visit www.latinfinance.com/labif
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Ecuador External Debt Rises
Ecuador’s external debt rose to $17.5 billion in December last year, up 4% from a year earlier. Public debt at $10.9 billion was down slightly on 2004’s figure of $11.1 billion. Private sector debt accounted for $6.7 billion, a rise of 16% from $5.8 billion in 2004.