Issuance from FirstRand Bank; Petrobras releases financials; Asian issuers give guidance

By Christine Van Dusen

Atlanta, April 23 – South Africa’s FirstRand Bank Ltd. was among the issuers to sell notes on Thursday as Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) released its long-awaited audited financial statements for 2014.

The amount of charges related to corruption costs and losses from the electricity sector came to less than $25 billion, a London-based trader said.

That kind of write-down is “still tremendous,” he said. “But it’s much less than the $60 billion total that was being discussed earlier this year. The worst case scenario has been avoided, though problems, of course, remain. We think the short end of Petrobras will continue to grind tighter as the long end widens.”

Liquidity for the company at the end of the year was $2 billion less than the close of the previous quarter, he said.

Looking to Asia, most bonds started the day 1 basis point to 3 bps tighter on higher U.S. Treasury yields, another London-based trader said.

But the tone weakened after the London open, and most names closed the day broadly unchanged, he said.

In deal-related news, Korea Resources Corp. and China’s Jingrui Holdings Ltd. set talk for new issues while Panama’s Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex) and China’s Cnooc Ltd. planned roadshows.

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