LatAm Equity

América Móvil, the Mexican telecommunications company controlled by Carlos Slim, had to cheapen the terms of its €2.2bn bond exchangeable into shares in Dutch telco KPN, but still achieved a remarkably cheap refinancing of a non-core stake.

Ninebot, an electric scooter producer backed by electronics giant Xiaomi Corp, has won approval to raise more than Rmb2bn ($282m) from listing China Depository Receipts on the Star board.

Brazilian ECM has surged this year, thanks to a belief in president Jair Bolsonaro’s plans for the economy. Brazilian corporates have taken advantage of investor excitement to raise more than $15.4bn in equity financing over the first three quarters of 2019. But this could be just the start, with a wave of privatisation also possible.

Borr Drilling, a Bermuda-registered, Oslo-headquartered offshore oil drilling company, has raised $650m with a 51% capital increase that was placed in an accelerated way on Friday evening.

What, on Wednesday, seemed to be primary capital markets gung-ho for any deal imaginable by Thursday looked more like a market on the skids as concerns intensified over the endless controversies dogging US president Donald Trump’s administration.

BRF, the Brazilian food conglomerate, has confirmed that it is considering London for an IPO of its halal food business, although a final decision has not been made.

Citigroup has issued on Thursday an unusual €374m bond, exchangeable into shares of Telekom Austria, as part of a deal that enabled América Móvil to reduce its stake in the company, fulfilling an earlier promise, without suffering a big fall in the share price.

Telefonica’s €600m equity-neutral convertible bond, launched and priced on Wednesday, proved controversial and had to be restructured mid-sale, highlighting the discomfort many investors feel with some of the currently fashionable CB structures.