Mexico

Latin America’s luck will change. Pandemic lockdowns caused more regional corporations to default between early May and June. But yield-starved investors will ignore some of these risks, Reuters reported. There’s a lot of bad news to ignore. The International Monetary Fund expects Latin American and Caribbean economies to contract by more than 8% in 2020, the most of any region, with only a 3.6% improvement in 2021. And non-financial companies with foreign debt have seen revenue dented by a combined $200 billion due to the pandemic, Fitch Ratings estimates.

Mexican carrier Grupo Aeromexico will continue to reactivate travel destinations throughout next year, an executive told Reuters on Monday, adding that there is still much uncertainty stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The country’s largest carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court earlier this year and has since tried to shore up its finances.

Mexican airline Aeromexico has requested permission from U.S. bankruptcy court to dismiss 1,830 employees in a cost-saving measure to weather the economic shocks of the coronavirus crisis, according to court filings filed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The proposed layoffs, of 855 unionized workers and another 975 who do not belong to a union, would save the company $44 million on a recurring annual basis, Aeromexico said.

Mexican airline Aeromexico on Tuesday posted a net loss of $130.38 million in the third quarter under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic, yet said passenger demand had begun to revive, Reuters reported. The drag on profits was considerably narrower than in the prior quarter, when Aeromexico posted a net loss of $1.19 billion.

During a pandemic that has wreaked havoc with global travel, Enrique Beltranena is something of a rarity: a happy airline boss. Volaris, his Mexican low-cost airline, has added, not cut, routes during the crisis, has a healthy balance sheet and is “cautiously optimistic” in its outlook, he said.

Mexico’s finance ministry and banking regulator extended tools to allow banks and financial intermediaries to restructure loans and other credits to clients, senior officials said Wednesday, in the government’s latest push to help an ailing economy, Reuters reported. The measures will extend until next year several temporary rules designed to avoid defaults and loss of collateral, in what Finance Minister Arturo said was a recognition that the economy will remain fragile for some time.

In an attempt to help its battered economy recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Mexico’s central bank said on Tuesday that it has extended measures designed to strengthen credit channels and provide liquidity in the financial system, Reuters reported. Banxico said liquidity facilities first announced in April will be extended until the end of February 2021, while a government securities repurchase window is being increased by a further 50 billion pesos ($2.37 billion). So far, Banxico said, the measures have been successful.

Bonds sold to finance a $13 billion airport in Mexico City that was ultimately scrapped are among the region’s worst performers as investors question the revenue stream that backs them, Bloomberg News reported. Notes due in 2047 from the Mexico City Airport Trust had a volatile first half and are now poised for their fourth straight weekly decline. Their drop to 86 cents on the dollar from above par at the beginning of the year is the seventh-worst performance in the Bloomberg Barclays Latin America Bond Index. The notes have a tumultuous history.

Mexico’s finance ministry is considering extending relaxed banking credit rules to help its battered economy recover, a top official said on Wednesday, after it presented an austere 2021 budget that leaves little room to maneuver, Reuters reported. Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio said the ministry was in talks with the banking industry and the central bank about the possible extension until next year of the temporary measures designed to avoid defaults and loss of collateral.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Offshore Drilling Holding, S.A.'s (ODH) Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'C' from 'CC,’ Fitch Ratings reported. Fitch also downgraded the company's USD950 million senior secured notes due Sept. 20, 2020 to 'C'/'RR4' from 'CC'/'RR4'. The downgrade reflects ODH's ongoing negotiation with its bondholders' representatives regarding a potential restructuring of the company's capital structure, as disclosed on Aug. 11, 2020.