Category: Structured Finance

Argentine province Rio Negro will receive a $30m loan from the IDB to improve fruit and vegetable production, mining and tourism. The loan will be for 25 years and has a 4 year grace period, says the lender.

The IDB has approved a master financing facility of up to $42m in long-term loans for Costa Rica-based developer Caribe Hospitality. The funds will be used to finance up to 8 Marriott hotels in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Mexico. The hotels must be able to get Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, the standard for “green” building design.

Panama-based foreign trade bank Bladex could be the first company to issue a huaso bond in the Chilean market this year, say Chile-based bankers. They add that the bank is planning to issue up to UF2.5m ($110m) in 2 tranches, one for 3 years and the other for 5, but that this will depend on market appetite. Bankers say an issue could happen as early as January 10. Proceeds will go to finance lending operations. BBVA is heard leading the A+/AA minus issue. Bladex had been expected to launch a huaso bond for about a year, the bankers say. Mexico’s America Movil did the last huaso, selling UF5m in 2035 notes last May. Banchile-Citi and Santander managed that sale, rated AA+.

Ecuador is getting a $78m loan from the IDB to improve its births registration and citizens’ identification with the creation of new documentation centers. The loan is for a 25-year term, with a 3-year grace period, priced basis Libor. The government of Ecuador will provide $15.5m in additional local counterpart funds.

The Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund has completed a MXP1.54bn road concession purchase. It has also signed a $150m loan from the IDB. The fund bought the Decarred road concession package in Northern Mexico from builder Rostec de Mexico, it says. Macquarie will be required to reconstruct, preserve, and maintain 10 highway stretches totaling about 320km. Decarred receives monthly payments from the state of Durango, funded by tax revenue the state gets from the federal government. Decarred has received MXP1.09bn long-term debt financing from Banamex and HSBC, Macquarie says. Macquarie launched the fund, its first infrastructure fund in LatAm, in December 2009, with the closing of a MXP3.42bn Certificados de Capital de Desarollo (CCD) transaction, and has been adding additional funds. The fund had a target size of MXP15.0bn at launch, and had reached MXP5.2bn as of January, the last time Macquarie divulged fundraising information. The $150m loan from the IDB will help to attract $1.1bn in additional investment in energy, water, hospitals, schools, roads, ports, telecommunications and sanitation, says the IDB. In addition to the loan, contributions will come from Mexican pension funds, the national infrastructure fund and other local and international capital sources, according the IDB. The fund will contribute to the government’s national infrastructure plan, which anticipates demand for infrastructure investments by 2012 will reach $206bn. Of this amount, $45bn will come from private resources.

The IDB is extending a $200m loan to Jamaica. The loan will be used to strengthen the country’s fiscal policy. This is the second loan the IDB has granted Jamaica this year. Another $200m loan was approved in August to strengthen the country’s fiscal policy. The IDB did not return calls for comment on terms.