Peru corporate bond sales may rise to a record this year as company spending spurs economic growth, according to Conasev, the nation’s securities regulator.
Bond issues in the first eight months of the year climbed 9.6 percent to $848 million from a year earlier, Yvonka Hurtado, the organization’s director of issues, told reporters in Lima.
Companies are seeking more financing as a rebound in private investment fuels Peru’s fastest economic growth since 2008. Bank lending rose 19 percent through July from a year earlier, according to banking association Asbanc. Concern that higher growth could fuel inflation led the central bank to increase the benchmark lending rate four times since May.
“In the midst of the battle to overcome the crisis last year we achieved a record $1.7 billion of issues,” Hurtado said. “This year we hope this figure can be matched or slightly exceeded.”
Bond sales tripled in August to $91 million from the same month a year earlier. Banco Continental SA and Telefonica del Peru SA were the biggest to sell bonds, offering $29 million and $21 million respectively, according to Conasev.
The regulator is seeking to boost issues of short-term debt by reducing the cost and time involved in registering bonds maturing in less than one year, Hurtado said. This may encourage more companies to sell debt even as higher interest rates increase financing costs, she said.
The yield on Peru’s benchmark 8.6 percent sol-denominated bond due August 2017 rose two basis points, or 0.02 percent, to 5.23 percent, according to Citigroup Inc.’s local unit.
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