Cofide Readies Bond After Loan

Peruvian development bank Cofide is planning to place a new dollar bond as soon as the third quarter, CFO Carlos Linares tells LatinFinance. An RFP should be out for banks in the next 4-6 weeks, he explains, estimating a $200m-$300m deal at a 10-year maturity. Cofide, rated BBB minus by Fitch and S&P, is mainly raising funds for infrastructure lending. Cofide also expects to restart local issuance in PES under a $200m program in the second half of the year, with perhaps 5-10 year maturities. Global and Japanese market PES issues are also under consideration, he says. “We must start out with a dollar benchmark, to open up other markets, Linares says. Meanwhile, Cofide has closed a $135m 3-year loan priced at 125bp over Libor, less than the $185m it had originally sought. There are apparently some stragglers that could lift the total to $175m, but the deal was heard constrained by rising European cost of funds, and a 5-year was scrapped, says a banker close to the deal. Standard Chartered was bookrunner. Mizuho, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Sumitomo are heard among the participants.