Central America

Mexican car parts maker Nemak began meetings with European investors on Monday as it looks to become the first Latin America borrower to sell sustainability-linked bonds in more than one currency.

Mexican car parts maker Nemak sold $500m of sustainability-linked bonds on Wednesday in its first issue since it was spun off from conglomerate Grupo Alfa. Nemak’s deal was priced 25bp inside a recent SLB from its similarly rated peer Metalsa.

Bondholders of Mexican payroll lender AlphaCredit are facing very low recoveries, say credit analysts, after the company failed to pay a $15m coupon payment due on June 19 on its senior secured 2022s.

Mexican car parts maker Nemak is looking to become the latest Latin American company to issue a sustainability-linked bond, having begun investor meetings on Monday. Like other LatAm SLB issuers from the sector, Nemak is including a coupon step-up linked to Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions — though the company has a separate target to reduce its far more significant Scope 3 emissions.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) is working to develop a regional bond market that it hopes will broaden the investor base for Central America’s sovereigns, some of which have patchy access to global markets. Cabei’s CFO told GlobalCapital that the supranational will provide seed capital for a fund to participate in the market, which he believes could eventually attract foreign buyers.

Brazilian steel producer CSN and Mexican building materials company Cemex continued a storming week for Latin American high yield issuance with new deals that attracted bumper orders and priced tight to bankers’ expectations — even if comparable deals were not always clear cut.

Mexican building materials company Cemex is looking to sell a perpetual hybrid bond that it believes will help it towards its target of building an investment grade capital structure.

Grupo Axo, the Mexican fashion retailer, sold $325m of five year notes on its international bond market debut on Tuesday, tightening the price as bankers said Latin America bond markets were in a sweet spot for new issuance.

Grupo Axo, the Mexican fashion retailer, began investor calls on Monday ahead of a possible international bond debut that is being marketed just days after BlackRock made a $45m equity injection into the privately held company.

Latin America DCM bankers are gearing up for a calmer period in primary bond markets as first quarter earnings blackout periods near, after two companies jumped on an improving tone at the end of last week to sell rare Friday deals.

Mexican food company Grupo Bimbo proceeded with a 30 year bond issue on Wednesday despite a US inflation reading that sent Treasury yields to their widest levels in a month. A strong bid from US investment grade buyers ensured a bumper order book, but some observers were surprised that the issuer had not delayed its deal in the face of a tricky market.

Inversiones Atlántida (Invatlan), the Central American financial services group that owns the largest bank in Honduras, is looking to raise $300m of senior secured bonds, it told fixed income investors this week.