North America: Mexico
Latin America: Brazil
Mexico receives the award for best North American sovereign borrower this year largely because of its continued success in differentiating itself from the rest of Latin America. It is no longer possible to compare directly the borrowing strategies of the United Mexican States and the Federative Republic of Brazil: their investor bases, financing needs and debt dynamics are so far apart as to make choosing between them pretty well impossible.
Certainly, in terms of the professionalism of their respective debt teams, both are world-class. “Both of them have done absolutely phenomenal jobs,” says the head of debt capital markets at a bulge-bracket investment bank. “They have been consistent accessors of the market, executed successful deals in euros and in dollars, and done successful liability management exercises. I would find it tough to pick between the two. Both of them have picked their spots very well indeed with smart transactions. I can’t think of any deal either of them has done that has been difficult. Virtually all of them have been very warmly received, and they’ve executed in size. Their timing has been spot on, and so has their choice of currency and their choice of instrument.”