Lazard Structures Ecuador Bond
Ecuador is in talks with Bermuda-based Lazard Ltd. and New York’s Clifford Chance LLP to structure a new bond sale after receiving a loan commitment from China last month for at least $1 billion, helping finance a budget deficit that’s projected to reach $4.23 billion this year.
This will be the South American country’s first global sale since it defaulted on $3.2 billion of bonds three years ago. The government is seeking yields of no more than seven percent, the Bloomberg financial news network reports today [Jan. 24].
The yield on Ecuador’s 9.375 percent bonds maturing in 2015 has fallen 105 basis points, or 1.05 percentage point, to 9.29 percent in the past year through yesterday, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Since Ecuador’s default, the government has borrowed about $7.25 billion from China in exchange for future oil exports, tapped the nation’s public pension fund and raised taxes on companies including oil producers and banks to finance the budget.
Bermuda-headquartered Lazard Ltd.offers financial advisory and asset management services from some 40 offices in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
Its investment banking arm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategy, and restructuring and corporate finance services; specialties include the consumer, health care, energy, real estate, media, and telecommunications sectors.
Lazard has some $155 billion in assets under management, most of it in international equities; it primarily serves institutional investors as well as governments and wealthy individuals.
