Pemex Seeks Diverse 2013 Funding Targets

After a groundbreaking debt fundraising year, Pemex is targeting issuance in more new markets in 2013, its treasury manager says. The Mexican state-owned oil company has put in a request to borrow about $9.8bn-euqivalent in 2013, subject to government approval, with about $4.0bn expected to come from the international markets. After hitting up the Swiss market and becoming LatAm’s first Australian dollar issuer this year, other non-USD markets may be in the cards. “We would certainly look at the Euro market as we do every year and we would look at some currencies in Latin America. The swap to dollars makes it difficult to structure those trades, but Pemex could turn to South American currencies like in Peru or Colombia which might make sense in our funding program,” Mauricio Alazraki tells LatinFinance. It is not necessary to go to non-USD markets, the official adds. In the dollar markets, a retap of its 2044 USD bond is a distinct possibility, he says, after raising $3bn from it this year. Like other Mexican blue-chips, Pemex would like to take advantage of growing investor appetite for domestic peso debt. “We aim to tap the domestic market more frequently, ideally every quarter to give the market more certainty,” he says, noting that $2.5bn-$3.5bn-equivalent would be ideal next year. Using its successful GDN format to tap both foreign and local buyers is among the options, though the global peso securities debuted by America Movil this year also give borrowers another option. “Titulos de credito extranjeros is a great program and we have to see if that is a way to go or to work on our GDN format and provide it with more liquidity. There are similarities in terms of documentation. One of the advantages of the GDN is that it is easier to identify amount to withhold. Obviously what America Movil did was a great transaction,” Alazraki says. Pemex would also like to have $1.5bn-$2.0bn from ECA funding next year, including a possible revisit of its US Ex-Im backed bonds