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Daily Brief

Dec 24, 2008 Issue

Fitch Cuts Transtel on Debt Exchange

Colombia

Fitch has lowered the ratings of Colombian telecom operator Transtel Intermedia to D from C, it says. The move follows the company’s announcement that it is seeking to ex...

Moody’s Negative on YPF, TGS

Argentina

Moody’s has put the ratings of Argentina-based YPF under review for possible downgrade and chopped also TGS. The agency placed YPF’s on review because of deteriorating ec...

Moody’s Downgrades Banamex

Moody’s has chopped the long term global currency deposit rating to Aa3 from Aa2, but affirmed the prime-1 short term local currency rating and the C+ bank financial stre...

Moody’s Puts Brakes on Ford Mexico

Mexico

Moody’s has chopped the long term Mexican national scale debt rating of Ford Credit de Mexico to Caa1.mx from Ba3.mx. The outlook is negative. The new long-term Mexican n...

Subscriber Notice

This is the last Daily Brief until January 5, 2009. Happy Holidays to all our readers.

Crisis Uproots CentAm/Caribb Advantage

Caribbean

The global financial crisis has reversed the typical relationship between Central America/Caribbean credit and the bigger LatAm economies, which are beating the former on...

S&P Cuts DomRep Ratings

S&P has lowered the DomRep’s long-term sovereign credit rating to B (stable) from B+ due to a deteriorating economic outlook. Already in 2008, says S&P, fiscal slippage a...

IMF Could Lend $800m to El Salvador

The IMF says it has agreed in principle to loan about $800m to El Salvador to support the country’s economic program for 2009. However, Savadoran authorities intend to tr...

Citi Joins Caixa For Brazil Remittances

Brazil

Citi has teamed up with Brazil’s Caixa Economica Federal to tap into the flow of remittances from citizens living abroad, a flow of roughly $7bn a year. The new service, ...

Argentine Food Producer Eyes Bonds

Argentina

Shareholders in Argentina’s Molinos Rio De La Plata have voted to issue up to $150m in bonds, the food conglomerate says. The sale could be in dollars or pesos, and in th...

Mexico Rethinks Local Debt

Mexico

Following a surprise $2bn dollar bond placement last week, Mexico plans to boost its domestic bond sales in Q1 2009, Hacienda says. It will double sales of its 20 and 30-...

Telefonica Merging Peru Operations

M&A

Telefonica del Peru, a division of Spain’s Telefonica, says shareholders have approved a merger with Telefonica Moviles Peru, also owned by the Spanish company. The union...

UBS Neutral on D&S After Bid

Chile

UBS Pactual has given a neutral rating to DyS stock after Wal-Mart announced plans to acquire the company for about CLP259.4 per share, or $2.8bn. UBS believes that “reve...

Infonavit Caps Tough Year for Mexico RMBS

Structured Finance

Mexican lender Infonavit has sold MXP2.16bn in 2030 UDI-denominated RMBS, its final transaction in a challenging year for mortgage-backed issuers. The deal was split into...

Petrobras Rolls Short Debt to 2011

Brazil

Petrobras has pushed out 2009 debt with 2 Brazilian banks until 2011. Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer has extended to 2011 export credit loans of BRL400m and BRL1....

Bradespar to Refi Part of Promissory Notes

Brazil

Bradespar plans to issue BRL690m in 180-day promissory notes at 113% of the DI rate, it says. The equity arm of Bradesco, which holds stakes in companies including Vale a...

Neoenergia Gets BNDES Credit

Brazil

Brazil’s BNDES development bank has approved a BRL2bn 5-year credit line for electricity holdco Neoenergia. Funds drawn will pay a spread over TJLP and support a 2008-201...

Swiss Shop Dominates Shrunken Fee Pool

M&A

Credit Suisse consumed the lion’s share of this year’s much smaller investment banking fee pool, aided by a solid year for M&A. The shop bagged $225.9m from in the year t...

Colombian Wireless Snares $125m Loan

Loans

Colombia Movil, operator of the wireless brand Tigo, has secured a $125m loan through its parent, Luxembourg-based Millicom. The 5-year facility through ABN AMRO pays Lib...