The favorable swap back to dollars has Unifin Financiera trying its luck in Switzerland next week ahead of its first-ever potential Swiss franc-denominated bond sale. The Mexican financial institution mandated Credit Suisse and UBS to lead meetings across the pond and if successful, it will mark the firm’s third cross-border effort of the year.
Tenders, exchanges, or liability management seemed the common theme of the week with Digicel updating the investor community on its plans to buy back 2022 and 2020 bonds. The Caribbean telecom was joined by Argentina’s YPF and Brazilian development bank BNDES, which both launched tenders of their own.
Barbados faced the wrath of the investor base this week after it effectively snubbed its international bondholders. The indebted sovereign issuer launched an exchange for its domestic debt but has left overseas players in the dark over how it will restructure its securities.
Brazil’s equity market got a jolt on Wednesday evening when online educator Arco Platform launched a potential IPO that could give it almost $200m from a New York Stock Exchange listing. The majority of the ECM pipeline is likely to come from Brazil this year, but issuers will have to tackle whether to test the waters before the October 7 presidential election.
Given the dearth of transactions, we took some time to profile renewable power initiatives in the region. Gema Sacristan, the CIO at IDB Invest spoke exclusively to LatinFinance about the bank’s credit guarantee on BRL-denominated debentures and Atlas Renewable Power CEO Carlos Barrera talked about the investor’s plans to expand further into Latin America’s largest economy.
Bankers and investors also shed some light on the tough new pricing dynamic that is sweeping throughout Latin America’s capital markets. The effect has shed light on the tug-of-war between a selective investor and those syndicate desks trying to bridge the divide between the buy- and sell-side.