Brazil

Brazilian steel producer Gerdau this week became the latest Latin American issuer to take advantage of hugely benign conditions to issue new debt inside where its existing curve was trading.

Chilean lender Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI) became the latest Latin American issuer to take advantage of strong market conditions as it took the plunge on its first international bond issuance for more than four years.

Brazil sold new 10 year bonds this week as part of a liability management exercise, using a combination of a cash tender and exchange offer to buy back $3bn of short-dated bonds.

A decision not to take a rating from Moody’s proved wise for Braskem as the Brazilian company attracted significant interest from investment grade buyers on its way to a $1.75bn dual tranche deal on Wednesday.

Brazil followed Mexico’s example in making the most of idyllic issuance conditions on Tuesday, though some investors argued that Brazil’s $3bn deal demonstrated that the market retained some sense of discipline.

Brazil’s Braskem could become the third Latin America chemicals company in two weeks to issue internationally as it meets fixed income investors on Monday and Tuesday.

One rare and one debut issuer from Latin America are meeting bond investors as bankers say that a quieter couple of weeks of activity is no indication of a slow end to the year.

Petrobras’s latest new issues gradually recovered ground in secondary markets this week as the overhang effect from a huge exchange offer began to wear off.

Both of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras’s new bonds issued last Monday will jump to jumbo size after the response to the company’s exchange offer surpassed the expectations of many market participants.

Brazilian water and sewage company Aegea Saneamento e Participações is looking to raise $400m via its debut international bond issuance, according to rating agency reports.

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras appeared to have timed its return to bond markets to perfection on Monday, but an underwhelming secondary market performance left some investors disappointed.

Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras returned to bond markets on Monday with a liability management driven trade that bankers say should hit $6bn at least once a concurrent exchange offer is completed. But the deal traded down in the grey market — to the surprise of many.