Tuesday, January 5, 2010

BNDES Sells $1 Billion of Bonds in Overseas Markets

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s state development bank sold $1 billion of 10-year bonds today, marking the beginning of what analysts say will be a push by companies to secure financing ahead of October’s presidential election.

BNDES, as the bank is known, sold the bonds to yield 5.63 percent, or 187.5 basis points more than U.S. Treasuries. That yield spread is down from 300 basis points, or three percentage points, when it issued 10-year notes in its last overseas offering in June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Rio de Janeiro-based BNDES is tapping debt markets before investors grow more cautious about buying the country’s corporate debt during the presidential campaign season, said Eric Ollom, chief strategist for emerging markets at Jefferies Group Inc. in New York.

“Brazil’s got a special case,” Ollom said. “For the six months of the year they have a very open window, but in the third quarter there’s going to be a lot of talk about the election. If I’m a Brazilian entity planning to sell debt, I’d rather do it sooner rather than later.” [more...]