AMX Pushes Sterling Limits, Retaps USD

America Movil (AMX) continues to fuel up on debt at attractive levels, raising $1.92bn through a GBP-denominated sale and reopening of the 10 and 30-year bonds sold earlier this month. The Mexican telecom raised GBP750m ($1.17bn) in 2041 bonds, pricing through its dollar curve and offering the region’s longest and largest sterling issuance to date. Gathering funds as it plots expansion in Europe, AMX took advantage of attractive issuing conditions to build a GBP1.8bn book. The bond priced at 97.828 with a 4.375% coupon to yield 4.511%, or Gilts+165bp. The A2/A/A minus rated issuer priced inside its dollar curve, according to a source familiar with the transaction, spotting the level at the equivalent of Libor+165bp. The 2042 dollar bonds AMX reopened Monday at UST+153bp came at the equivalent of Libor+186bp. Proceeds are marked for general corporate purposes. Deutsche Bank managed the sale. The transaction tops a Petrobras GBP700m 2026 sold in December and AMX’s own GBP650m 2030 bond in 2010, according to Dealogic data. The 29-year tenor beats the 25-year bonds issued by Barbados in 1990 and Trinidad in 1984. Not finished for the day, AMX moved on to bring its haul to nearly $2bn with the tightly-priced reopening of the pair of dollar bonds. The 3.125% coupon 2022s reopened for $350m at 102.623 to yield 2.820%, or UST+131bp, at the tight end of mid-130bp-area guidance. The 4.375% 2042 bonds reopened for $400m at 104.601 to yield 4.106%, or UST+153bp, at the tight end of UST+mid-150bp-area guidance. Said to generate more than $2bn in orders, the retaps offered little new issue premium by pricing flat to inside pre-announcement secondary levels seen the AMX 2022 (UST+130bp) and 2042 bonds (UST+157bp). “America Movil is a solid company with a healthy balance sheet, but we didn’t see value in the retap,” says an EM investor who opted out of the trade. “People need a place to put money and AMX is the bluest of the blue chips,” says a banker away from the deal. Proceeds w