Chileans to Headline Busy DCM Week

Chilean retailer Cencosud and pharmaceutical provider CFR have joined the list of borrowers aiming to sell bonds this week, in what should be a busy opening to the final window of cross-border issuance this year. Cencosud is scheduled to meet bond investors today through Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the matter, ahead of an expected $1bn 2022 offering. The Baa3/BBB minus supermarket operator is looking to help fund its recent purchase of Carrefour’s Colombian operations and will visit New York, Boston, Los Angeles, London, Santiago, Bogota and Lima. JPMorgan, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Itau, Mitsubishi-UFJ, Mizuho, and Santander are managing the sale, and are all banks heard participating in the syndication process of a $2.6bn 18-month acquisition loan. Cencosud is also readying a $1.5bn equity capital raise to cover the rest of the takeout, which was approved last week and is expected in December or January. Its last dollar bond was its cross-border debut in January 2011, raising $750m in 2021 notes. Meanwhile, CFR is meeting investors in Europe and the US this week, according to sources familiar with the matter, ahead of what Fitch expects to be a $300m debut bond. After only making its domestic DCM debut this year, the pharmaceutical company now turns abroad for acquisition funding, visiting accounts through Wednesday. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank are managing the BBB minus/BB+ deal. Proceeds will help fund the $562m acquisition of Colombia’s Laboratorio Franco Colombiano (Lafrancol) agreed in August. CFR raised UF3m ($142m) through a domestic 2033 bond earlier this month. “There is a large pipeline waiting for after the [US] Thanksgiving holidays,” says a New York DCM banker, noting appetite is there at different points on the credit scale. Power plant developer Mexico Generadora de Energia is scheduled to finish meetings Wednesday ahead of a $564m project bond. Mexico’s Posadas should bring a $225m 2017 and Grupo Kuo a $200m 2022 this week, and elsewhere