It wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that no other investment bank can operate across the central America and Caribbean region like Citi. With its history and presence, the US bank seems to have a stranglehold on deal flow from the region and Citi’s investment banking team, led by Caribbean and central America cluster head Marcelo Gorrini, has been dominant in the awards period.
Around 80% of capital markets deal flow came from Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Citi led nearly all the major transactions in those countries and participated in every Dominican Republic bond and loan deal – supplying over 50% of all business from the region.
Citi led three sovereign deals for the Dominican Republic – comprising bonds worth more than $7.5 billion – as well as being the sole bookrunner for a $262 million private-sector deal for Inter Energy. It also closed a loan facility for consumer staples company César Iglesias.
Elsewhere, Citi led on Guatemalan bank Banco Industrial’s $300 million, 10-year bond deal and was global coordinator for The Central America Bottling Corporation’s $200 million of notes last July. In Panama, Citi also dominated the deal flow, from the sovereign’s $2.575 billion multi-tranche issuance last September to deals for utilities (AES), transportation (Metro de Panamá) and financial services (Globant Bank and Banistmo).
