CABEI to Increase LatAm Funding

CABEI will look to increase the percentage of funds which come from LatAm capital markets from the current 10%-17% to 25%-30% over the next 4 years. “LatAm markets have become more of a priority as they know us better and are able to appreciate our credit profile, which is something we expect to translate into being able to issue at more attractive spreads,” Jose Felix Magana, treasurer of CABEI tells LatinFinance on the sidelines of the IMF annual meeting. Colombia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are markets CABEI would look to return to in order to issue bonds. It will also issue CP in new markets, such as Venezuela, Peru and Chile, adds Magana. CABEI needs to raise $750m in and will consider issuing bonds with maturities of 10 years or between 3 and 5 years. The first LatAm market it would look to issue in is Colombia, where it would look to issue between $150m and $250m worth of bonds, though he says maturity and timing is yet to be decided. Magana adds that either late this year or early next year CABEI is looking to issue up to 4bn Thai baht, as swap levels in Thailand and other Asian markets are attractive, Magana says. CABEI could also issue paper for between $150m and $250m in Europe, he adds.