Seizing the moment

What sovereigns do, corporates will try to do better. Many have taken advantage of good conditions to stretch maturities and smooth out repayments. Some Mexican issuers have even managed to price tighter than their government, reports David Pilling

If 1995 was the year that Latin American corporates tentatively dipped their toes into the international debt and equity markets, this year they waded in up to their waists. With memories of the Mexican devaluation slowly fading and most Latin economies beginning to stir from the general slumber of 1995, several companies began to reconsider raising fresh capital.

Latin American corporations may not have been able to match their hyperactive governments in the pace of borrowing, but of the $44 billion in Latin bonds issued by the end of October 1996, $14 billion, nearly a third, was corporate debt, according to Salomon Brothers.

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