Chile

Chile’s billionaire Luksic family is seeking €217 million ($226 million) in compensation from Banco Santander SA, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP and others in connection to the collapse of a Spanish lender seven years ago, Bloomberg News reported. Aeris Invest, a Luxembourg-based financial holding company owned by South America’s second wealthiest family, is demanding the payment to cover losses incurred as shareholders of Banco Popular, after the lender went bankrupt and was taken over by Santander in 2017, according to legal documents seen by Bloomberg.
Read more
Inflation smashed through the top of the central bank’s tolerance range in Brazil and accelerated much more than expected in Chile as surging energy costs give policymakers another reason to worry, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Friday showed Brazil’s consumer prices rose 4.76% in October from the year prior, above the 4.5% tolerance ceiling of the central bank’s goal. Chile’s cost of living posted the biggest monthly rise since March of last year as annual inflation sped up to 4.7%.
Read more
Latam Airlines Group SA is tapping global debt markets for the first time since the carrier emerged from its chapter 11 bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The Santiago-based airline is selling $1.2 billion in dollar notes maturing in 2030. Initial price talks are taking place at a yield in the low-to-mid 8% range. Latam, the largest carrier in South America, exited the chapter 11 process in late 2022 with 35% less debt, placing a renewed focus on customer service. It recently returned to the New York Stock Exchange, with an offering of American depositary shares.
Read more
Chile’s economic activity unexpectedly contracted in August on a decline in services, corroborating the central bank’s message that more interest rate cuts are on the way, Bloomberg News reported. The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, fell 0.2% on the month, matching the worst estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts that had a median forecast of 0.3% growth. From the year earlier, activity gained 2.3%, the central bank reported on Tuesday.
Read more
Chile’s economy contracted on a quarterly basis for the first time in a year, marking a significant downturn that bolsters the case for a resumption of interest rate cuts, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product fell 0.6% in the second quarter from the prior three months, in line with the median forecast of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. From a year ago, it expanded 1.6%, the central bank reported on Monday. Chilean policymakers paused their easing cycle last month as they weighed near-term inflationary pressures against a downturn in the economic recovery.
Read more

Troubled Chilean salmon-farming company Nova Austral appears to have been given the go-ahead to continue with its reorganization, Fish Farmer Magazine reported. Following a new appeal by the company and other organizations, a court in the south of the country has permanently reversed a bankruptcy order. A temporary appeal was allowed in May. This means a long running saga, and a series of delays which saw the business come close to being wound up or sold, should at last be over.

Read more