Iraq prices first deal in a decade; Colombia prices $1.4 billion add-on; Venezuela fluctuates

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 2 – Deals continued to trickle through emerging markets on Wednesday as issuers remained undeterred by the dog days of early August.

The Republic of Iraq priced $1 billion of 5½-year notes to yield 6¾%, which was the tight end of talk.

Iraq’s new note issue was well received by investors and multiple times oversubscribed.

The last international bond that this sovereign priced was in 2006 with its notes due in 2028, a market source said.

The Republic of Colombia priced a $1.4 billion add-on to its 3 7/8% notes due 2027 to yield a few basis points below the fixed coupon rate.

“It’s not going to be too difficult for sovereigns and repeat issuers to continue to get things done for the next few weeks,” a New York-based market source said.

“Coldeco did a large deal last week and Colombia today. Increasingly it feels like most of them have been to market though, and certainly it will slow down [in August]. But then we will see a pretty busy September,” the market source said.

Back in established issues, the bonds of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela SA moved lower early in the session and then retraced losses to end up on the day by 2 to 3 points.

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