LatinFinance - July 2013 - 29

an option that you didn’t have in the past,”
he tells LatinFinance. “It has become fairly
liquid.”
Mexico’s pension funds, the Afores,
represent a rapidly growing pool of assets
that by March had reached 2 trillion pesos
($164 billion). Latin institutional investors
are “here to stay”, he says. “We have seen
a lot of the other institutional investors in
the region coming over. We have now had
pension funds from Chile Colombia Peru
and Brazil.”

market options available.”
América Móvil reopened its 2018
Swiss bond to raise 300 million Swiss
francs ($313 million) in mid-May,
achieving one of the lowest-ever funding
costs for a LatAm issuer in that market.
The 1.125%-coupon bond was reopened
at 101.061 to yield 0.917%, or mid-swaps
plus 47 basis points.
“Currencies are something that you
have to manage actively,” García Moreno
says. Most issuers look at swaps rates and
look at what is the most efficient and see
Currency spread
where they want to end up in dollars. His
Quarterly retaps of the título are expected
focus is on diversification. The company’s
to provide the bulk of the company’s
superlative access to funds will serve it
funding at the 10-year spot on the curve,
well as it looks to head in new directions
García Moreno says. Beyond that, América
in its home market.
Móvil has no specific funding plans, but
Regulatory reform means a
Garcia Moreno: prepare for “uncertainty”
keeps an eye on all its options.
“new beginning”, where it could face
“The 10-year money will very likely
indicates that the period of cheap dollar
competition in the telecoms sector but also
stay in Mexico,” he says. “The mediumrates may be ending. Diversity is not just
allow it to compete more freely in areas
term money up to five years will be in the
important, but essential as América Móvil like television. García Moreno says that on
Asian and Swiss markets. There may be
increases its market footprint.
balance, such reform will prove positive
something [in dollars] on the long end.”
“Windows of issuance are often fairly
by allowing the sector to evolve and grow,
The dollar markets are very important, uncertain,” he says. “You need to make
he says.
but are going through a transformation,
sure you have established yourself in as
“It poses some challenges and some
García Moreno says. Growing concern over many different markets as possible, and
opportunities,” he says. “I’m sure we are
the pace of a rise in US Treasury yields
make sure that you also have non-capital
going to win some and lose some.” LF
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Corporate with the best regional strategy

AmBev

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reaching out
With a newly acquired majority stake in the Dominican Republic’s leading beer
brand, AmBev is looking for further Caribbean expansion

ompanhia de Bebidas das Américas’
(AmBev) move in April last year
to take a majority stake in Cevecería
Nacional Dominicana (CND), the
Dominican Republic’s largest brewer,
marked the culmination of eight years
of the company’s expansion into the
Caribbean.
The Brazilian drinks maker’s first
steps into the region took it to the
Dominican Republic in 2004, where it

bought a majority stake in the country’s
Pepsi bottler Emdobom for $60 million.
In 2012, it spent $1.24 billion in its
acquisition of a 51.06% stake in CND
– a move that was emblematic of the
company’s increased confidence in the
area.
The move was “an important step to
consolidate our position in that region,”
AmBev’s CFO Nelson José Jamel says.
Executed through a direct 9.3% stake in

CND and a tie-up with E León Jiménez,
which owns 83.5% of the brewery, the
regional expansion granted AmBev a
piece of the country’s leading Presidente
beer brand.
The deal also helped the firm fend off
a crowded field of companies shortlisted
for this category, which recognizes
institutions that have grown beyond their
home countries into other parts of Latin
America.
A number of landmark transactions
in the region – including Cencosud’s
purchase of Carrefour’s Colombian
operations, Cosan’s buyout of Comgás
and Grupo Sura’s raid on ING’s pension
funds – are just a few of the high-profile
acquisitions in the past year.
AmBev stands out for both the long
geographical reach and high profile of

July 2013

LatinFinance 29

LatinFinance - July 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LatinFinance - July 2013