Jamaica sold $2 billion in bonds to help pay down debt owed to Petroleos de Venezuela SA under the Petrocaribe program.
The Caribbean nation sold $1.35 billion in bonds due 2028 to yield 6.75 percent and $650 million of notes due 2045 to yield 7.875 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter, who isn’t authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified.
Jamaica said in a filing Thursday that it plans to spend $1.5 billion of the proceeds to pay down debt owed to state-owned PDVSA. Demands on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s cash-strapped government have peaked with the collapse in oil prices, spurring the nation to reach agreements with its Caribbean allies that have accumulated debt under preferential financing with Petrocaribe.
A deal on the Petrocaribe obligations “would constitute an important influx of cash” at a time when the Venezuelan government’s resources are diminishing, Risa Grais-Targow, an analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote in a July 20 report.
The sale comes about half a year after the Dominican Republic struck a deal to pay $1.9 billion for nearly all of the $4.1 billion it owed PDVSA. Jamaica’s total debt under the program is about $3 billion, according to Eurasia.
$28 Billion
Since the Petrocaribe program was conceived in 2005 by then President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has sold more than $28 billion of oil to nations across the Caribbean and Central America. The countries pay for only a portion of the bill upfront and finance the remainder at 1 percent or 2 percent over 25 years.
Jamaica’s credit was raised by two rating companies in the past two months. Standard & Poor’s lifted Jamaica to B from B-in June, saying the Caribbean island is making progress in lowering debt levels that remain among the world’s highest. Moody’s Investors Service raised its grade by one level on May 28, saying the government’s commitment to fiscal reform should help fuel economic growth in the next two to three years.
Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are managing the sale. Jamaica last tapped global markets in July 2014, selling $800 million of 10-year notes. The remaining proceeds of the sale will be used for general budgetary financing.
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