South America

Light SA will receive fresh cash and convert debt to equity under a preliminary restructuring deal it reached with creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The troubled Rio de Janeiro utility said in a filing released Monday the agreement in principal includes a capital injection of as much as 1.5 billion reais, the issuance of new notes and converting as much as 2.2 billion reais of existing debt into equity.

Rio de Janeiro’s utility Light SA reached an agreement with creditors, moving a step closer to leaving a bankruptcy protection process that started last year, Bloomberg News reported. The deal includes 1 billion reais ($200 million) in equity injection from the company’s main shareholders, Nelson Tanure, Ronaldo Cezar Coelho and Carlos Alberto Da Veiga Sicupira, who own a combined 65% of the company.

Argentina’s central bank cut its main interest rate for the third time since President Javier Milei took office as investors bet on a fresh inflation slowdown in the South American nation, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers lowered rates to 70% from 80% on Thursday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The drop was later confirmed by a central bank statement and communicated to traders on the local Siopel system. Borrowing costs have fallen from 133% in December, when the reference instrument was the Leliq note.

Colombia is trying to cut interest rates at a pace that won’t surprise markets, trigger destabilizing capital outflows or jeopardize the aim of hitting the inflation target range by mid-2025, the head of the central bank said, Bloomberg News reported. The fastest consumer price rises among peers, and above-target inflation expectations are “elements of concern” that call for prudence from policymakers, Governor Leonardo Villar said. But if the inflation outlook brightens the bank might accelerate the pace of monetary easing.

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.

Argentina's monthly inflation rate likely edged down to 12% in March, analysts polled by Reuters estimated, which would mark a third straight month of deceleration for prices and a boost for new libertarian President Javier Milei's economic reform drive, Reuters reported. The South American country has the world's highest inflation with the annualized rate running over 275%, which hurts consumer spending power and dampens the economy. Milei has made curbing prices a focus via an austerity package of cuts.

Uruguay’s central bank resumed its easing cycle with a half-point cut to its benchmark interest rate after inflation rose at the slowest pace since 2005, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank said it lowered the key rate by 50 basis points to 8.50% following a pause in February thanks to a gradual drop in inflation expectations and a sustained slowdown in consumer price increases that’ve stayed within the 3% to 6% target. The move on Wednesday marked the central bank’s biggest since a half-point reduction last October.

The socialist government of Venezuela is discussing compensation with at least two Colombian companies whose assets were seized under late President Hugo Chávez, Bloomberg News reported. Colombia’s largest cement maker, Cementos Argos SA, is in talks involving the possible takeover of a state-owned cement plant near Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, according to German Umaña, Colombia’s minister of commerce, trade and tourism. An expropriated subsidiary of Cali-based sugar exporter Comercializadora Internacional de Azúcares y Mieles, Ciamsa, is also in negotiations for compensation, Umaña said.

Jorge Paulo Lemann, the billionaire Brazilian dealmaker, said that together with his long-time partners, he’s trying to save retailer Americanas SA after a massive $5 billion fraud pushed it into bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. The trio of investors, that includes Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira, have owned Americanas since the early 1980s and their stake stood at about 30% when the scandal broke. Now, in the midst of a debt restructuring and recapitalization, they’ll own about half of the business.

Venezuela's consumer price growth hit in March hit 1.2%, maintaining the same pace as February, the country's central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. March's inflation is the lowest since August 2022. The country's 12-month inflation through last month stood at 67.75%, according to Reuters calculations based on central bank figures. Venezuela's government is redoubling efforts to control inflation by holding the exchange rate at 36 bolivars to the dollar, while weighing its spending amid an election year.