Issuance volumes increased 12-fold in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago to Ps2.4 trillion ($1 billion). The contrast is starker when comparing the number of deals: 11 in the first three months of this year compared with just one in the first quarter of 2008.
Many more deals are expected in the near future. "The local bond market is still good," says Roberto Borras Polania, the Superintendente financiero de Colombia, the local regulator. "There has been a big increase in the amount of debt issued locally. This is in part because the international markets are closed, and in part because the local markets have improved so much."
Francisco Aristeguieta, managing director of the Andean region and country officer for Colombia at Citi, says: "Colombia has a very successful private pension programme in place which means there is about $50 billion available to corporates through the local capital markets. Bonds can go up to 20-year tenors and so now the local markets represent a significant and valid alternative to the international markets for local corporates."
Some recent notable deals include a Ps240 billion transaction from Venezuelan development bank CAF, a Ps400 billion issue from local bank Bancolombia and a Ps264 billion bond from dairy producer Alpina.