CAF Issues Swiss Bonds

CAF has tapped the Swiss franc market, raising CHF200m ($194m) in 2013 bonds at 100.065 with a 5.00% coupon to yield 4.985%. The offer was upsized from CHF100m on demand of just over CHF200m, say executives on the deal. More than 20 institutional and private investors participated, they add. “It’s a high-quality market that we’ve been looking at for a while,” Gabriel Felpeto, CAF’s international director, tells LatinFinance. He explains CAF’s most recent presentations in Switzerland were important in getting the deal done during a rough week for LatAm bonds. The A+ transaction makes CAF the first LatAm issuer in Switzerland in three years and the second in ten, says Felpeto. He says this issue is part of the $500m equivalent it plans to complete in different markets and currencies by the end of the year. Credit Suisse managed the sale.