The crop of boutiques that sprang up from the bulge bracket wreckage faces fresh competition. They will need relationships, international connections and a proper structure to survive.
Category: Loans
Posted inMagazine
Best Bank – Chile
Santander Chile says its strength has come from growing selectively and increasing sales without expanding the client base too much, so that it can control risk.
Posted inMagazine
Best Investment Bank – Chile
Chile-based investment bank Celfín Capital has seized the boom in 2010 as an opportunity to push it into the big leagues.
Posted inDaily Brief
Brazil’s Citepe Gets EUR Loans
Brazilian petrochemical company Cia Integrada Textil de Pernambuco (Citepe), a Petrobras subsidiary, has obtained 2 credit facilities for a total of EUR91m from lead arrangers Spain’s Banco Santander and Germany’s KfW IPEX Bank, according to a person on the deal. About EUR44m comes in the form of a buyers’ credit and the remainder is an export refinancing facility. The source says the loans have a tenor of 8 years and pay an interest rate based on Euribor. The credits are guaranteed by Petrobras and covered by export credit insurance from German export credit agency Euler Hermes Kreditverischerungs. Proceeds of the facilities will go to the construction of 2 plants, one producing PET chips and the other producing textile-grade semi-dull polyester polymers.
Posted inDaily Brief
Itau Chile Heard Shopping Loan
Banco Itau Chile is expected to launch next week a syndicated loan. Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas are heard running the transaction and a bank meeting is scheduled for November 3 in New York. A $150m senior unsecured term loan facility is expected by bankers not on the deal. It is unclear why the bank is funding itself in Chile.
Posted inDaily Brief
Odebrecht Floats Hefty Drillship Bond
Use of the bond market for drillship financing appears set to grow, with Brazil’s Odebrecht targeting a $1.5bn 10-year, considerably larger than those financed so far this year. The Odebrecht Drilling Norbe VIII/IX unit will use proceeds to refinance debt related to the construction of 2 deepwater drillships operated by Odebrecht Oleo e Gas and holding 10-year contracts with Petrobras. The BBB/Baa3 amortizing deal has an 8.1-year average life and will be pitched to investors next week. Two teams will start in London and the US West Coast Monday, hit New York, continental Europe and Singapore before finishing in Boston and Hong Kong Friday. Santander, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Banco do Brasil are managing the sale. The notes are backed by intercompany loans granted to each drillship, according to Fitch. It notes that construction of the Norbe VIII and Norbe IX ships are 95.5% and 88.0% complete, respectively, and should be delivered in the first half of next year. Earlier this month, Brazil’s BBB/Baa3 Schahin Engenharia raised $270m in 2016 bonds to refinance debt on the operating Lancer drillship, paying a 5.85% yield.
Posted inDaily Brief
Venezuela, DR Snag IDB Loans
The IDB has approved a $700m loan to finance the modernization of the turbines of Venezuela’s Guri hydroelectric project, increasing power by 795MW. Venezuela will contribute a total of $609m in counterpart funds to the project, which will have a total cost around $1.3bn. The IDB loan is for 20 years, with a 6-year grace period and an interest rate based on Libor. Separately, the IDB has approved a $120m loan to the Dominican Republic to help enhance competitiveness. The IDB financing consists of a $110m loan with an amortization of 20 years, a grace period of 5 years and an interest rate based on Libor. The other $10m loan has an amortization of 15 years, a grace period of 5 years and an interest rate based on Libor. The multilateral does not comment on the loan spreads.
Posted inDaily Brief
Alfa Heard Bringing Acquisition Loan
Mexican conglomerate Alfa is understood to have mandated a syndicated loan to back the $600m purchase of Eastman Chemical assets in the US. A $600m 3-year bullet facility is expected to be syndicated next month. Credit Suisse and HSBC are heard as the leads on the deal that hits a LatAm bank market starved for assets and hungry for yield. The purchase of Eastman’s polyethylene terephthalate resins business and related assets and technology of its Performance Polymers segment was done by Alfa unit DAK Americas. BAML advised Eastman while HSBC is understood to have worked on the buyside. Fitch Wednesday downgraded Alfa sub Grupo Petrotemex to BB (stable) from BB+, including notes issued by DAK, amid fears over leverage incurred in the purchase. On a pro forma basis, Fitch estimates that Petrotemex’s total debt-to-Ebitda, considering 12 months of Eastman assets operations, could reach 3.3x in 2010 and gradually decrease. This compares negatively with a total debt-to- Ebitda ratio of 2.2x for the 12 months to June 30, and fall outside Fitch’s prior leverage estimation of 2.0x to 2.5x. Nonetheless, Fitch notes that the investment is strategic and positive for Petrotemex, and should strengthen its business position, as it gains PET market share in North America. “It should also bring potential synergies to Petrotemex’s operations, provide the company with access to new technologies and improve its vertical integration,” says Fitch.
Posted inDaily Brief
DomRep Gets IMF Disbursement
The IMF says it has completed a second and third review of the stand-by arrangement (SBA) with the Dominican Republic and approved a $249m disbursement. Up to now, total disbursements total about $688m. The SBA was initially approved on November 9 for a total of $1.7bn and the IMF says all benchmarks for the second and third reviews were met. The IMF says the 2011 budget envisages a consolidated fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP, a 1% drop, to be achieved through a reduction in indiscriminate electricity subsidies and a strengthening of tax collections by rationalizing tax exemptions and improving tax administration, targets that are in line with the original program.
Posted inDaily Brief
Lenders Await Pemex Allocations
Bankers are keenly awaiting this week’s allocations on a Pemex $3.25bn dual-tranche loan. It has apparently received over $4bn worth of commitments from 15 banks, not including the leads, a fact that raises some eyebrows. “They are asking for pretty big tickets for tight pricing,” says a banker not on the deal. “It’s not that far from where banks have their own funding costs,” he adds. The deadline for commitments was 2 weeks ago. Sizeable tickets received include $250m from Sumitomo across both tranches, $150m from Intesa on the 5 year tranche, and $75m from EDC to the 3 year, according to market participants. The 3 year tranche is a $1.25bn revolver to replace a 2007 loan that matured in September that had been priced at 25bp+Libor, for which it is offering 125bp over Libor. Fees for participation in the range from 25bp-60bp for $100m, $75m, $50m and $35m tickets. Bookrunners on the tranche are Barclays, BBVA, Credit Agricole (admin agent) and RBS. Pemex also wants a new money 5 year term loan for $2bn at L+150bp. BBVA (admin agent), BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Citi, HSBC and Inbursa are bookrunners. Fees on the term loan range from 45bp to 85bp for $150m, $100m, $75m and $50m commitments.