Argentina is certainly taking advantage of the "open window" to bring deals to market that were in the pipeline before year-end 2000. Banco de Credito y Securitizationes (BACS), a subsidiary of Banco Hipotecario Nacional (BHN) and the International Finance Corp. (IFC), will issue a deal similar to BHN's four previous MBS transactions, to the tune of $95 million.
To attract an array of investors, the deal will consist of two issuances, a fixed-rate and a floating rate. The fixed-rate tranche will total $65 million and will have a 10-year final maturity bond. The spread is 424/T, which is an impressively low 8.99% of the coupon.
The second issue, for $30 million, will be at Libor+250.
The instruments featured a political risk insurance policy covering 14 months of interest payments, a four month reserve account, and 18% subordination. However an official at lead manager Bear Stearns said the involvement of the IFC in BACS was also key to securing interest in the deal.
The transaction was originally slated for early November but was pushed back as a result of the volatility in Argentine bond prices, saving the issuer roughly 50 basis points in cost of funds, the official at the lead said.
