Brazilian Bank Postpones CHF Bond

Brazil’s Banco Pine has cancelled plans to raise funds in the Swiss bond market. “In light of increased volatility and deteriorating market conditions Banco Pine has decided to refrain from pursuing its debut CHF bond transaction for now,” the lender says in a statement to investors. The mid-sized bank had been considering a minimum CHF80m ($83m) 2.5-year bond and released guidance of mid-swaps plus 493bp-area, and hoped to price Friday.“The timing for Pine was not adequate, the name is not that well-known within Swiss investors and there is a general lack of appetite for Brazilian banks, in particular for mid-size,” says a Swiss investor who had been looking at the deal. UBS was sole lead on the transaction, which had a BB rating. In April last year, it had plans to issue a $300m 5-year bond in the dollar market but later postponed amid a backdrop of tanking US equity markets and oversupply from Brazilian mid-sized banks. The volatility has not closed Switzerland off to all issuers, with supranational bank CAF selling CHF175m last week.