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Jim Harper, an analyst at BCP Securities, confesses to mixed feelings when considering TMM’s first securitization. “On the one hand it looks like a good piece of liability management, and I’m pleased to see it happen, but on the other hand it means that they will have no bonds outstanding as of this year and I’m going to miss seeing Juan around.”
Juan Fernández, TMM’s charismatic CFO, will indeed be taking a break from the straight bond markets after the $200 million securitization replaces all of his firm’s existing debt. It would be an exciting time for any company. But for TMM the moment is sweetened by thoughts of what had gone before: dispute, lawsuits, plummeting bond values and default. Fernández assumed the role of CFO in 2004, after the worst of the trouble was over, but he is still happy to talk about the downward spiral and the painstaking process of recovery.