But contrary to popular belief, many of these securities are more than holding their own amid the turbulence in the global capital markets. "They have actually performed relatively well," says an investment banker. Notes issued by Brazilian steel companies Gerdau and CSN, plastics manufacturer Braskem and investment group GP are all proving a hit with investors and are trading at par or above. Others, such as those perpetual bonds issued by Brazilian sugar and alcohol manufacturer Cosan and budget airline Gol are faring less well but that is more a reflection of problems in their respective industries than with the structure itself.
Perpetual bonds proved very popular in Latin America between 2004 and the beginning of this year. State-owned Mexican oil company Pemex issued the first such instrument out of the region in 2004 with a $1.75 billion note – still by far the biggest Latin American perpetual bond. Since then, several companies, mostly in Brazil, have issued perpetuals, raising more than $2.5 billion in the process.
Dumber trades
The bonds were targeted mostly at Asian retail investors, usually through private banks that buy the debt directly. These Asian investors are mostly successful Chinese entrepreneurs based in Hong Kong and Singapore, who were traditionally equity investors but were sick of seeing their stock portfolios go nowhere.