Paraguay Moves Ahead

Paraguay is scheduled to start investor meetings today ahead of what should be its international bond debut, according to people familiar with the matter. The sovereign has previously indicated it would seek up to $550m at a maturity of up to 10 years. The issuer will begin the roadshow in London and Lima today and visit Los Angeles, Santiago and New York before finishing in Boston Wednesday. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi are managing. In addition to integrating with the global financial community, Paraguay is looking to raise funds for road and energy projects. It was given a new BB minus rating from Fitch Thursday. Moody’s had upgraded Paraguay to Ba3 from B1 earlier in the week, and did the same Thursday for Telefonica Celular del Paraguay, which priced a $300m 2022 NC5 bond last month at 6.75% yield.