Colombia has delayed until June 2007 the privatization of its gas distribution company Empresa Colombiana de Gas (Ecogas), the largest gas distributor in the country. The government said it has not had time to prepare the sale through an IPO, as planned. It expects to raise over $330 million through the sale. Ecogas transports natural gas from the north coast and eastern region of the country to the center of Colombia. It has a network of gas pipelines that stretch 3,644 kilometers (2,259 miles).
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Endesa To Buy Cartagena Power Plant
Emgesa, the Colombian subsidiary of Spanish utility company Endesa, looks likely to buy the gas-fired Termocartagena power plant in the Bay of Cartagena for around $17 million from Ecuador’s Deposits Guarantee Agency (AGD). The Agency took over the plant in 1998 from Ecuador’s bankrupt Banco Popular. Emgesa will add three gas generation units with a total capacity of 186 MW to the eight hydro-electric power plants(1,865 MW) and a coal-fired thermal power plant (2323 MW) it already controls in Colombia. The purchase will diversify the company’s power-generation capacity and take overall capacity to 2,274 MW.
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Interbolsa To Tap Debt Market
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.
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Colombia Imports At Record High
Colombian imports rose 26.6% last year to a record high of $21.2 billion from $16.7 billion in 2004. The rise in imports was driven by the demand for capital goods to feed the healthy annual economic growth of around 5%. Capital goods imports were up 12.8 percentage points compared with the previous year. The largest three exporting countries to Colombia accounted for around 44% of total imports: with the US exporting just over 28%, Mexico 8.5%, and China 7.6%.
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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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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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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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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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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.