Elektra to Meet International Accounts

Mexican retailer Grupo Elektra is approaching international investors for the first time in over 10 years as it prepares investor meetings this week via BCP Securities with the intention of pricing a RegS 7-year NC4. The borrower will be in Switzerland and Miami on Friday and then next week it will be in New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong between July 25 and 26. The company is part of Ricardo Salinas’s holdings, which include TV Azteca, Banco Azteca and Iusacell. Salinas has courted his fair share of controversy in recent years after being investigated by the SEC and de-listing Grupo Azteca in the US. The name therefore often raises red flags among investors. For instance, Salinas’s involvement in Mexican fertilizer Fertinal unnerved some accounts looking at its bond, which was eventually pulled. On the other hand, TV Azteca managed to sell a $300m RegS only 2018 bond earlier this year, upsizing it from $250m and pricing it at 98.669 with a 7.50% coupon to yield 7.75%. Like Grupo Elektra, TV Azteca’s issue marked the company’s first international deal in over a decade. Elektra itself last sold bonds abroad in 2000 when it issued a $275m 8-year NC4 at par to yield 12%. More recently, Elektra priced a MXN2bn local 3-year at TIIE+300bp in March.