Efforts to resuscitate export securitizations in Argentina are bearing fruit (see ASR 11/4, p.18). In an interesting twist, the transactions that are surfacing are backed by loans to exporters, rather than the more conventional collateral of future flows.
Though details remain vague, Banco de Rio is heard to be at the forefront of securitizing loans to exporters. "If it gets done, it will involve producers from different provinces and involve various crops," said a source active in the domestic market.
Another bank is cooking up a similar deal backed by loans to five leading exporters, a source said. As the structure is currently envisaged, the deal would be guaranteed by future flows, though it will be a securitization of loans and not export flows. Apart from Rio, HSBC and BBVA Banco Frances are heard to be actively cobbling together some deals.
Since foreign investors are unlikely to give Argentine paper a bid, the deals will be peso-denominated and marketed to local pension funds. Even though their portfolios have succumbed to the economic crisis, the nearly total absence of new deals has pension funds trawling the parched market for pools of liquidity.
