All Eyes on Newland for High Yield

After last week’s beach resort bond wipe out, all eyes are on Newland International Properties, the builder of the Trump Ocean Club in Panama. Because of last week’s market volatility which claimed a number of high yield scalps, the issuer postponed at least until this week a $220m 2014 NC3 bond issue, talked at 9.375%-9.625%. Bear Stearns is the underwriter. Bond markets were closed Monday but further bloodletting on the US equity market suggests risk aversion will remain elevated. Besides Cap Cana’s $500m 2017 amortizer, the following were pulled last week: Grupo Unialco’s $150m 7-10-year, a $275m 10-year from Mexico’s Sanluis, a $150m 2010 from Brazil’s Banco Cruzeiro and a $220m 2014 from Argentina’s Banco Macro. Other less liquid and lower rated names waiting in the wings will no doubt have to hang back. Time is running out for LatAm issuers hoping to secure funds in 2007. As the holiday season approaches, investors will start to pull chips off the table to safeguard the year’s gains.