Venezuela

Nicolás Maduro’s comfortable and predicted victory in Sunday’s highly-questioned presidential elections in Venezuela have strengthened the president’s grip on power and reaffirmed the view of many bondholders that improvements in the crisis-stricken country are some way off.

One of the Venezuela analysts most keenly followed by the country’s bondholders will lead opposition candidate Henri Falcón’s economic team in the run up to this year’s presidential elections, which the largest opposition party is boycotting.

In the wake of Venezuela’s launch of petro, an oil-backed digital currency under the control of the nation’s central bank, a host of sovereign cryptocurrency products have emerged. For some nations, it is a ploy to circumvent sanctions but, for others, it could provide an important piece of future infrastructure for blockchain based settlement.

Venezuela’s cryptocurrency plans were met with a dismissive reaction from Lat Am bond market participants this week, who questioned the value of any currency issued by the defaulting government.

Venezuela has become the first sovereign nation to launch a cryptocurrency. While few outside Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s administration are impressed by the pioneering venture, others are expected to follow suit nonetheless, write Lewis McLellan, Costas Mourselas and Oliver West.

Bankers observing South American development bank CAF’s return to euro markets on Tuesday suggested that the multilateral had done well to push through equity market volatility with its largest ever euro deal.

South American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) is due to price its first benchmark of 2018 after announcing initial price thoughts for a euro-denominated seven year.

The co-founder of emerging markets broker Torino Capital has joined a hedge fund as portfolio manager — just over half a year after he left the business he built.

Corporacion Andina de Fomento tapped its September 2027 Kangaroo line on Tuesday, the first increase since it opened the line in March.

Coupon payments on Venezuela, PDVSA and Electricidad de Caracas (Elecar) trickled in late this week, leaving markets feeling calmer after an unconstructive but scare-free meeting between the government and a small number of bondholders.

Despite the end of the year fast approaching, and Venezuela’s debt saga challenging buy-side patience, investors have at least one more major test with Nigeria marketing the first sub-Saharan African 30 year sovereign bond away from South Africa.

Those hoping that Monday would bring clarity to the confusion surrounding Venezuela’s debt situation were out of luck as a meeting between the government and some bondholders offered no clues as to the country’s strategy.