E-Malt.com News article: 2754

Colombia, Bogota: Colombian brewer Bavaria plans to issue $110 million pesos worth of bonds in Colombia, and another $50 million in bonds in Peru, in June and July to put toward debt management, a source close to the situation said on June 7. The Colombian bonds would carry maturities of between 7 and 12 years, and could be linked to Colombia's benchmark DTF interest rate, the source, which declined to be named, told Reuters. The DTF is set weekly according to a Central Bank survey of commercial bank interest rates.

The 300 billion pesos in Colombian bond issues, which is the equivalent of about $110 million, is part of a pre-announced plan to issue 1 trillion pesos in bonds on the local market. Separately, the source said Bavaria planned to issue $50 million in bonds in Peru during July. The source declined to offer additional details.

Last month, Colombia-based Bavaria Business Group forecast a 4 percent increase in its 2004 earnings, and more than 60 percent fall in the drink maker's refinancing needs against the previous year. The group includes Bavaria, South America's second-largest brewer, along with non-brewing and foreign operations.

Bavaria's stock has risen more than 60 % this year to 21,000 pesos per share on June 4, due to increasing optimism about the company and a general rise of the Bogota bourse. Bavaria started 2004 at 12,980 pesos per share.

The drinks maker has been aggressively extending its reach in Latin America, and has spent $1.1 billion on expansion by buying brewers in Peru, Ecuador and Panama to double its output over the past three years.

It said in March that it aimed to become the world's seventh-largest brewer within three years as Latin American populations grow and beer consumption increases.


08 June, 2004