Banco de Chile Makes Japan Debut

Banco de Chile has raised JPY11.1bn ($112m) through a private placement in the Japanese bond market, it says, its first such transaction. The 2016 bond priced at par with a 0.74% coupon, or mid-swaps plus 50bp. Citi was sole lead on the Aa3/A+ rated deal. “The key thing is that this transaction was well priced for the Japanese market and versus its dollar curve,” says a banker away from the deal. Pricing attractively versus the issuer’s peso curve was tricky, considering the issuer lacks a strong USD benchmark – having last issued in USD in 2006, according to Dealogic. So far Banco de Chile has issued $1.12bn in cross-border bonds in 2013, it says, highlighting it will continue to evaluate new markets. It most recently raised CHF175m ($191m) in Switzerland. Banco de Chile follows Banco del Estado de Chile into the Japanese market, with the latter becoming the country’s first yen-denominated issuer in June through a JPY24bn sale. LatAm issuers have raised $1.18bn-equivalent from three deals so far this year, according to Dealogic data. This compares to $1.33bn from two in the corresponding period in 2012, which is also 2012’s full-year total.