Cemex Extends Timing On 8NC4

Mexican cement company Cemex pushed pricing back a day after emerging with 9.5% area guidance on a new $650m 8-year NC4 Wednesday as it looked to refinance upcoming bond maturities. The borrower is expected to conclude the deal today amid talk that guidance may be revised wider. Size has been capped at $650m. Timing surprised some rival bankers who thought the current market environment was unreceptive to single B names, especially a highly levered company like Cemex with exposure to the weak US housing market. The postponement this week of a 7-year NC4 from LatAm oil service provider San Antonio, which like Cemex is also restructuring story, only reinforced such arguments. Leads were heard saying that large late-day orders slowed the pricing process and that they needed to give more time to Asian and European accounts to participate. By Wednesday, the book had surpassed the $800m mark, though there was talk that leads could widen guidance to 9.625% or more should key accounts require such an adjustment. According to one investor, Cemex’s 2018s and 2020s are trading at 8.94%-8.69% and 9.54%-9.37% on a yield basis. It is thought that the deal may have emerged on the back of reverse enquiry. “It’s unusual for the company to issue an 8-year $650m so someone needs exposure on some part of the curve, currently in the mid 9s,” says a Cemex bondholder who passed on participation. Other accounts expressed an unwillingness to buy a credit they considered too risky. “I don’t like the credit as it is tightly linked to the US housing market and needs to refinance a mountain of debt in three to four years,” adds another investor. The cement maker has raised $3.5bn of funds in the debt capital markets during the first five months of this year, according to Fitch. The company faces debt amortizations of nearly $8.3bn in 2014, with total debt amounting to $18.2bn as of March 2011, the agency says. Leads on the latest deal are Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and HSBC. Ratings a