For a country with a very small net borrowing requirement, Mexico has been a huge - and hugely important - issuer of global bonds. In the past year alone it has issued some $8 billion of bonds, making it easily the largest emerging-market issuer. Since it didn't need most of the cash, it generally put it to use in liability management exercises; in doing so, Mexico has become the first country to all but eradicate its Brady bonds. Mexico also got its third investment-grade credit rating in September. But the biggest achievement came at the end of February, when the sovereign stunned the market with a 12-year bond with collective action clauses (CACs). The lead managers were JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.
Felix Salmon,
June 01, 2003