Chile

AES Gener’s junior subordinated hybrid exercised the brains of both syndicate bankers and investors on Monday as they struggled to find appropriate comps. But a hefty book and impressive aftermarket performance left no doubt over appetite for LatAm paper.

Lat Am bond bankers and investors may not have found an answer to Monday’s hot topic of the subordination premium on AES Gener’s junior subordinated hybrid, but the issuer left no doubts about the market’s appetite for paper with a highly oversubscribed trade.

Chilean power generation company AES Gener is looking to take advantage of favourable market conditions and cut its funding costs by issuing a new subordinated note to refinance a similar instrument.

Chilean copper miner Codelco looks unlikely to be able to repurchase the $1.907bn of bonds that it was hoping to cancel via a tender offer after investors holding just over half of that amount agreed to sell their paper after the early-bird period expired.

Latam Airlines returned to the bond market for the first time in almost two years, printing $600m of seven year paper.

Brazilian pulp and paper producer Suzano and Chilean copper producer Codelco got Latin American bond markets going this week with smooth dollar deals.

The largest and best rated airline in Latin America has mandated six banks to lead a bond sale as it prepares to issue $500m-$700m of senior unsecured bonds.

Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the largest copper producer in the world, became the first Latin American quasi-sovereign to tap bond markets this year as it returned to the long end of the curve.

The state bank of Chile is bookbuilding a return to the Swiss franc bond market.

Chilean state-owned oil company Enap (Empresa Nacional de Petróleo) showed Lat Am credits can still raise bond funding on Tuesday, though its latest deal is unlikely to have borrowers racing to markets.

Chilean state-owned oil company Enap (Empresa Nacional de Petróleo) raised $680m of amortising 11 year notes on Tuesday in a drive-by trade that showed Lat Am borrowers are still willing to battle tough conditions to get funding done.

Latin American financial institutions are continuing to find attractive opportunities in niche markets this week, though the best rated of them all told GlobalCapital it could turn to public bond markets soon.