It doesn't get much tougher than this in Latin
American markets. The year was book-ended by the two events
that had been most feared in 2001 - a massive sovereign
default in Argentina, then a presidential victory in Brazil
by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
But even with Argentina out of the markets for the
foreseeable future, and Brazil's benchmark C bonds trading as low
as 44 cents on the dollar at one point, capital markets in Latin
America did not close completely. Rather, a new paradigm emerged.
The days when New York debt capital markets teams could make
enormous amounts by lead-managing sovereign bond issues from the
big-three Latin countries are long gone. Argentina is bankrupt,
Brazil has no access to markets, and Mexico's financing needs are
minimal. Total Latin bond issuance in 2002 will barely reach half
of 2001's $32.5 billion, and the $15.7 billion seen so far this
year (to November 25) is less than 28% of the...
