Paraguay Sells $600 Million of Bonds After U.S. Yields Decline

Paraguay sold $600 million in bonds, the first issuance in a year for the South American nation, after lowering the Yield and increasing the size of the deal from its initial proposal.

The 10-year notes were priced to yield 5 percent, down from the 5.375 percent initial guidance, according to a person familiar with the matter who isn’t authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. The government offered about 28 basis points less than similarly-rated sovereign bonds from emerging markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America Corp. and Itau Unibanco Holding SA managed the sale, which was first billed as a $500 million deal.

The South American nation joins Brazil, Mexico, Panama and Chile in selling bonds abroad as yields on U.S. Treasuries remain near the lowest in about a year. Paraguay, which is rated two levels below investment grade by Standard & Poor’s, had its outlook raised to positive by the ratings company last year as its economy has grown even with the recession in Latin America.

The spread on the nation’s 2023 bond has narrowed 103 basis points since Feb. 8 to 2.7 percentage points more than U.S. Treasuries of similar maturity.

(Updates with information on final pricing.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at ethomson1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Walsh at bwalsh8@bloomberg.net, Sebastian Boyd

By: Eduardo Thomson

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