Latin America and Caribbean

Euromoney’s ninth Latin American company ranking is based on a survey of market analysts at banks and research institutes in Latin America. Respondents were asked to nominate the top-five listed companies in each of the main survey categories, bearing in mind market strength, profitability, growth potential, quality of management and earnings. Respondents were also asked to nominate the five best group treasurers, bearing in mind communication, knowledge of own business and market knowledge as well as their top-five financial exchanges in Latin America.

The fundamental dislocation of the region’s equity markets may actually drive DCM issuance in the coming year as a much-stalled pipeline of equity deals turns to M&A in frustration – and DCM deals will be printed to finance this predicted wave.

The data is misleading, say analysts; the region’s markets are fundamentally fine. Institutional investors are sticking around, but local companies are finding that they need a convincing story to attract international money.

Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey have more in common than macroeconomic numbers.

Post-election policies still hard to predict; fiscal discipline key to investments.

Itaú strengthens position outside Brazil; equity lull a good time for hiring, says HSBC.

With OGX’s debt issued internationally, there was reportedly little impact from the company’s bond default and October 2013 collapse into bankruptcy on the fixed-income portfolios of Brazil’s private banking clients – fixed income being the largest asset allocation among the vast majority of Brazil’s rich.

In the past year the country’s private bank clients have been persuaded of the need to diversify into global investments – not as a panic measure in a time of crisis but as a regular aspect of their allocations.

Petrobras deal shows swap advantage over dollars; Room for more quality issuers but a limited window

The development of the cerrado into arable land will benefit Brazil far more than its oil discoveries.

Transport costs have made the country’s agriculture industry uncompetitive. But new infrastructure projects should transform the opportunities some have seen in land values.

Disappointing end-2013 performance; McKinsey analysis predicts long-term issuance growth

Capital inflow down; Brazilian investor outflow up; Increasing cooperation between Brazilian and foreign asset managers

BNDES to spend $250.8 billion 2013-16; also seeks to encourage private capital inputs.

But expected wave of bank consolidation not forthcoming; hampered in Argentina by high regulatory and political risk.

There is too much bearish sentiment towards Brazil - investors shouldn't forget the long-term trends and the fundamental strengths of the economy.

If Petrobras is considering an equity transaction in 2014, the implosion of Eike Batista’s OGX group this year won’t be helpful for investors’ perceptions of the risk of Brazil’s oil exploration and production industry.

When Brazil’s national oil and gas champion raised $70 billion from a capital increase in 2010, it was trumpeted as a once-in-a-decade event. But as Petrobras nears its self-imposed leverage thresholds, its capital position looks compromised. A sharp cut to its rating or a return to the equity markets looks likely. So why is Brazil’s banking community so scared to discuss it?

Local banks like to see themselves as uniquely suited to offering cash management services to Brazilian companies. But the global banks are also getting up to speed on idiosyncratic client requirements and local regulation.

Brazil’s FX swap intervention is arming speculators for further attacks on the real

CRT was a natural candidate to open the project finance bond market in Brazil because the sponsors of Rodovias do Tietê are Atlantia Bertin Concessões (a 50/50 joint venture of Atlantia and Bertin), and Ascendi (a 60/40 joint venture of Mota-Engil and Banco Espírito Santo). They have experience of these structures in Europe.

Despite Roussef’s protestations, only structural reform will put Brazil back on a growth path.

No support for Rodovias do Tietê issue; Rotas das Bandeirantes refinancing blocked.

Lack of reform momentum being challenged; Secular, long-term trend seen as favourable for EM

It has been a horrible few months for emerging market (EM) currencies, with foreign exchange investors looking to exit a broad range of exposures from Brazil to Indonesia. However, a closer examination of the EM landscape reveals that among the detritus are currencies that look set to outperform.

Wealthy Brazilians’ traditional dependence on positive real interest rates for investment returns has been undermined. Euromoney’s roundtable of private bankers discusses how wealth managers are developing new investment opportunities for their clients and how those clients are responding.

Bears bring a spotlight to Brazil’s ‘Chapter 11’

With sellers and buyers in LatAm equity issuance and M&A finding it difficult to agree on valuations, banks are hard pressed to get deals away.

Guaranteed purchases make ‘deal’s floor the ceiling as well’; Valuation expectations of sellers and buyers persistently diverge