Brazil

Brazilian mining giant Vale returned to bond markets after a three year absence on Monday with a 10 year bond that bankers said left investors hungry for more.

Debt capital markets and syndicate bankers covering Latin America say that there is plenty of primary market activity on the way before the end of summer, as new issuance ticked over during the shortened July 4 week.

EM bond investors were treated to a second issue from a Cosan subsidiary in two days on Wednesday as Raizen, the fuel distributor and sugar and ethanol producer, reopened its 5.3% January 2027s.

Brazilian railroad operator Rumo tightened pricing sharply on the first green bond from Latin America in the coronavirus era on Tuesday, as bankers said that the environmental label gave investors more options over where to place the bond.

Brazilian railroad operator Rumo, which Fitch believes should only suffer a “limited” impact from coronavirus, is preparing what would be the first green bond from Latin America since the pandemic hit.

Nexa Resources, the mining arm of Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim, issued $500m of 10 year bonds on Monday, offering a healthy concession to its existing curve and seeing its new bond catch a broader rally on the break.

As sovereigns and corporates from all corners of the word suffer rating downgrades at an alarming rate, Brazilian meatpacker JBS bucked the trend on Tuesday as Fitch upgraded the borrower to BB+, just one notch away from investment grade status.

Nexa Resources, the mining arm of Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim, overcame a soft start to the week in international markets to raise $500m on Monday, with investors saying the company had offered a generous pick-up to its existing notes.

While leading economists fret about a reckoning to come for emerging market debt in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, for vast swathes of EM issuers bond market business is brisk. Despite dire data and forecasts, dollar funding costs for some sovereigns are nearing pre-crisis levels as investors grasp at any sort of yield. The rally may have further to run, write Ross Lancaster and Oliver West.

Brazil became the third Latin American issuer in three days to find bond buyers willing to place large orders even as pricing was pushed below their initial demands, as it raised $3.5bn of five and 10 year paper to provide arguably the starkest example yet that technicals are trumping fundamentals primary emerging market new issues.

State-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras finally brought some bond supply from Brazil on Wednesday but, as the new issue traded down on the break, bankers said few Latin American issuers were likely to be persuaded of the benefits of tapping international markets in the short term.

Investors and bankers said that Petrobras had achieved exceptionally tight pricing on Wednesday as the oil and gas giant became the first Brazilian issuer to tap international bond markets in times of coronavirus amid a strong rally in corporate paper from the country.