Liability management: Mexico falls short of grand ambitions

Mexico has long considered itself a groundbreaker in international debt capital markets. But its latest attempt to make history fell rather flat: it was downsized by $2 billion in the face of weak demand for the new debt part of the deal.

Mexico was nothing if not ambitious. The goal was to pull off one of the largest liability management operations ever seen: a tender offer and simultaneous bond issue, both of which might be as big as $5 billion.