It has only been six weeks since Argentina struck a deal with US-based bond holders which was viewed as allowing the South American country to return to international debt markets. Argentina defaulted on interest payments on its bonds in 2001/2002 and the South American country has been in the capital markets wildness since.
Now Argentina has cajoled Moody’s into raising the country’s credit rating to B3, which by the way is still sub-investment grade, all it needed for a bond market resurrection was a successful bond issue. Which is what Argentina has just announced.
USD$19 billion worth of bonds were offered for sale this week and the Argentinian Government received USD$68.6 billion worth of bids from investors. The large level of interest led to the bonds being sold substantially below indicative yields which started at 7% for the 5 year bonds, 8% for the tens and 9% for the 30 year bonds. By the end of the process, $2.75 billion worth of 2019 bonds were issued at 6.25%, $4.5 billion 2020s at 6.87%, $6.5 billion 2026s at 7.50% and $2.75 billion 2026s at 7.62%.