| In the two years since the peso crisis, Mexico surprised the markets with a miracle comeback. Led by the United Mexican States (UMS), the country's issuers have wooed back their old customers, and won many new ones. Last year the government's external debt team, led by Martin Werner, under-secretary of finance, kept Mexico in the headlines with good news for a change. In the most dazzling move, the UMS pioneered a Brady bond reduction and issued the region's longest maturity with a $1.75 billion 30-year global exchange. The government's efforts laid the groundwork for Mexico's beleaguered corporate base. Bond issuers now face the markets with renewed investor confidence and a full sovereign yield curve. For this year, Mexico needs to refinance $5.8 billion total sovereign and corporate debt, according to Joyce Chang, director of emerging market research at Merrill Lynch. As Werner and his team consolidate their market successes, they have attracted a larger pool of investors. "We've seen a real broadening of the investor base in the last year," says Chang, pointing to the significant spread tightening in the UMS Global 01, which came to market at 450bp and now trades a 154bp, as one example. |