| If 1995 was the year that Latin American corporates tentatively dipped their toes into the international debt and equity markets, this year they waded in up to their waists. With memories of the Mexican devaluation slowly fading and most Latin economies beginning to stir from the general slumber of 1995, several companies began to reconsider raising fresh capital. Latin American corporations may not have been able to match their hyperactive governments in the pace of borrowing, but of the $44 billion in Latin bonds issued by the end of October 1996, $14 billion, nearly a third, was corporate debt, according to Salomon Brothers. In Brazil, corporates accounted for just over 40% of new issues, while all $970 million in Chilean debt issues came from private companies. Equity issues were more sluggish, but in the first half of 1996 about $650 million was raised by Latin companies through eight American depositary receipt (adr) placements, according to a report by Bank of New York. This represented a big increase over the single $58 million issue in the same period of 1995, but was not yet back to the heady days of the early 1990s. |