By: GZ on Venerdì 17 Ottobre 2003 03:16
=DJ Emerging Market Debt Issuance Moves Into Overdrive
By Mike Esterl DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
The floodgates for emerging market debt officially have opened.
Venezuela issued $470 million in international bonds Thursday, the same day that the Philippines put the finishing touches on a $1.05 billion overseas deal in what is shaping up as a very busy fourth quarter.
Just Wednesday, Brazil sold $1.5 billion in foreign debt to investors, following in the wake of Mexico's $1 billion placement last week. China, meanwhile, has launched a roadshow to market an estimated $1.5 billion in overseas bonds, its first such placement in more than two years.
"Everyone is targeting the market," said Jeremy Brewin, a portfolio manager who oversees about $220 million in emerging market debt investments at Morley Fund Management in London.
Governments from Manila to Mexico City are moving quickly to take advantage of cheap financing that's being fueled in large part by loose monetary policy and rock-bottom interest rates in developed economies. Emerging market bonds are trading at a premium of less than 450 basis points over U.S. Treasurys, the narrowest spread in more than five years.
Even before Thursday's placements, sovereign issuers had placed $46.14 billion in emerging market debt so far this year, up from $26.18 billion in the like 2002 period, according to Dealogic, a data provider.
Market participants say Bulgaria, Colombia, Panama, Peru and Turkey are among the long list of countries that could bring new deals to international capital markets before the end of December. Brazil, shut out from capital markets for most of 2002, could still issue some debt in yen or euros before the end of the year, they add.
Some portfolio managers already are growing more selective because of falling yields in the famously volatile asset class - and also starting to wonder whether the rising supply could eat into near-term profits. Mohamed El-Erian, who oversees $12 billion in emerging market debt investments at Pimco, said his fund passed on the latest offerings from Venezuela and the Philippines.
"It would not surprise me if this amount of issuance that is taking place puts a temporary halt on the very strong rally that we've seen," added El-Erian, who's based in Newport Beach, California.
Investors who benchmark their holdings against J.P. Morgan's Emerging Markets Bond Index Global, which spans 31 countries, have booked a 21% return so far this year.
Still, El-Erian and other market participants remain bullish over the longer term. For one thing, much of the money that is being raised now by emerging market countries is being set aside to cover next year's obligations with long-term securities. That reduces medium-term insolvency risk - and means they won't have to issue as much debt in 2004.
Credit rating agencies, meanwhile, have been tripping over themselves in recent days to upgrade several major countries. Earlier Thursday, Standard & Poor's raised Turkey's junk-bond rating to B+ from B and Moody's upped China's investment-grade rating to A2 from A3. Last week, Moody's hiked Russia two notches to an investment-grade Baa3 rating, just five years after the country
defaulted on its debts.
More than half of the EMBI Global is now investment grade, compared with about 10% in 1998, and investors reckon more upgrades are in store as currencies across emerging markets stabilize, inflation pressures subside and current account balances swing positive.
Several countries also have been able to loosen monetary policy in recent weeks amid the improving conditions, creating the conditions for robust growth that has been lacking until now. South Africa and Turkey eased policy this week, and Brazil's central bank is expected to slash its benchmark lending rate again next week.
Perhaps most important, new money continues to flow into the asset class. According to Boston-based Emerging.Portfolio, the $15 billion in dedicated emerging market bond funds it tracks registered net inflows of $124 million in each of the last two weeks. Flows have been positive in nine of the past 10 weeks, and many predict that more is on the way in November and December.
"So far it doesn't feel like the market supply is trying to outstrip demand," said Christian Stracke, a debt analyst with CreditSights, a fixed-income consultancy based in New York.
Despite the rapid-fire issuance, investors have booked a respectable 0.8% return on the EMBI Global so far this month. Brazil raised the size of its seven-year offering by $500 million on Wednesday, backed by strong demand, andthe bond has traded higher the last two sessions even as the U.S. Treasury market swooned.
According to Dealogic, emerging market corporates have issued $82.04 billion in debt so far this year - up from $63.72 billion in the like 2002 period andthe biggest tally in the past five years. Much of the issuance has come from -and is expected to continue coming from - Brazilian and Russian companies that
until recently had been frozen out of international capital markets.
"That is going to be a big wild card over the rest of the year: how muchBrazilian and Russian corporations are going to push the market," said CreditSights' Stracke.