Chile

Seventeen months after exiting bankruptcy proceedings, Santiago-based Latam Airlines Group SA is feeling confident enough with its finances to seek new transactions and declare itself “open to opportunities,” according to its top executive, Bloomberg News reported. “The pandemic and the Chapter 11 process was very hard for Latam and for its shareholders that lost everything, but they allowed us to resurface as a group that is financially much stronger than before the pandemic,” Chief Executive Officer Roberto Alvo told Bloomberg News in Santiago.

LATAM Airlines, opens new tab said on Wednesday its board gave approval to begin the process of re-listing American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. In a filing to Chile's stock exchange, the company said the process involves meeting various requirements from the NYSE and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and could take up to six months. The Santiago-based carrier traded ADRs, which foreign companies use to list their shares on U.S. stock exchanges, on the NYSE before declaring bankruptcy in 2020.

Chilean port workers staged protests on Thursday, disrupting the loading and unloading of ships in one of the biggest exporters of raw materials from copper and lithium to pulp and fruit, Bloomberg News reported. A planned 24-hour strike by members of the UPC and FTPC umbrella unions began around 8 a.m. local time. The Ventanas port confirmed activities undertaken by union members are suspended. Television images showed workers blocking roads near the biggest port of Valparaiso. Local media reported protests by stevedores in the town of Talcahuano.

Chile’s central bank slowed the pace of interest rate cuts and left its options open for the size of future reductions, signaling caution in the face of inflation risks from stronger economic activity and a weaker peso, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers cut their interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 6.5% on Tuesday, as expected by nearly all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In a statement, they wrote borrowing costs will continue to fall, and that the easing cycle will consider the evolution of the economy and effects on inflation.

WOM, once a rising Chilean startup that vowed to challenge the country’s dominant telecom operators, filed for bankruptcy after falling short on a plan to refinance $348 million in debt due in November, Bloomberg News reported. The company filed for chapter 11 protection in Delaware, according to court documents filed today. The filing, which lists between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities and same in assets, allows WOM to keep operating while it works on a plan to repay creditors.

WOM Chile and some of its creditors have tapped advisers ahead of potential debt talks, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of global bonds issued by the mobile operator began working with Dechert LLP this week, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the negotiations are private. They didn’t identify members of the bondholder group that retained the law firm. Some bondholders also hired Ducera Partners LLC as an adviser, according to two other people familiar with the matter.

Chile’s central bank slashed its key interest rate by a full percentage point, speeding up the pace of monetary easing for the second meeting in a row after inflation slowed more than expected last month, Bloomberg News reported. Four of the five policymakers voted to cut borrowing costs to 7.25% late on Wednesday, with the other backing a reduction of 125 basis points. The decision was forecast by 17 of 21 analysts in a Bloomberg survey, with three others predicting 75 basis points and one seeing 125 basis points.

Chilean consumer prices unexpectedly posted their biggest monthly drop in more than a decade in December, sending swap rates tumbling and paving the way for more sharp interest rate cuts, Bloomberg News reported. Prices fell 0.5% last month, more than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey that had a -0.1% median forecast. Annual inflation eased to 3.9%, the national statistics agency reported on Monday. A closely-watched price gauge that excludes volatile items increased 5.4% in the year through December. Chile’s central bank has signaled it will deliver another big rate cut at its Jan.

Chile’s central bank sped up the pace of its interest rate cuts with a reduction of three quarters of a percentage point and signaled borrowing costs could fall even faster as both inflation and the global economy improve, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Rosanna Costa voted unanimously to cut borrowing costs to 8.25% late on Tuesday, as expected by 12 of 20 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Eight others expected a second straight reduction of 50 basis points.

As a deeply divisive re-write of Chile’s constitution comes to an end, interest rates fall and economic growth returns it seems that Chile’s bond market is regaining its mojo. But there may be one final sting in the tail from the last three years of social, political and economic turbulence, Bloomberg News reported. All 14 analysts and traders in a Bloomberg survey expect rating firms to downgrade their outlook on Chilean bonds, or lower the rating some time next year as the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio rises.