Brazilian Infrastructure Player’s Books Swell

Brazil’s OAS is expected to price today a 2019 NC4 bond, according to sources following the process, giving 8.5%-area yield guidance Thursday. The first-time B rated issuer gathered more than $4bn in orders by Thursday afternoon fro what should be a $300m-$500m transaction, and the bond was heard up about 0.75 points in the grey market. The price talk is in from earlier mid to high 8% levels. Fitch notes increased consolidated leverage, combined with operating margins lower than the industry average. Net debt/Ebitda ratio was of 13.6x at the end of June, against 6.5x at year-end 2011 and 8.1x at year-end 2010. “There is a lot of project debt here, but this is high-yield and the market is hungry for that. I think it will do well” says an EM portfolio manager considering the sale. OAS was scheduled to wrap up European and US fixed-income investor meetings Thursday, following today with its international DCM debut. Proceeds raised from the sale, done through the OAS Investments Austrian unit and guaranteed by OAS, Construtora OAS and OAS Investimentos, will be used to refinance indebtedness. Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, BTG Pactual, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Itau are managing.