(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's state oil company, one of the most distressed credits in emerging markets, hired BancTrust & Co. to help arrange calls with investors, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The calls with Petroleos de Venezuela SA officials including Chief Financial Officer Simon Zerpa, set to begin July 10, are meant to improve communication with bond investors and will be invitation-only to some of the company's biggest creditors and emerging-market funds, said the person. While the company has no immediate plans to sell debt, it may weigh a benchmark offering of senior unsecured dollar notes after the calls, the person said.
Bonds due this year from PDVSA yield 60 percent, one of the highest rates in the world for non-defaulted corporate debt, on concern the oil producer will struggle to come up with the cash it needs to stay current on its obligations. Investors have turned increasingly pessimistic as the country's international reserves dropped to a 15-year low and anti-government street protests heated up amid shortages of basic food and medicine.
“Given soft commodity prices, constant street protests and political uncertainty, it is hard to see a deal getting done,” said Ray Zucaro, the chief investment officer of Miami-based RVX Asset Management. “That said, it appears their backs are against the wall.”
PDVSA officials didn't immediately reply to emails and two phone calls seeking comment.
Last October, the company persuaded creditors to swap their securities for longer-dated bonds, but fell short of its goal. The amount of bonds left untendered had some questioning if new fundraising would follow this year.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which purchased $2.8 billion of PDVSA notes at a discount in May that had been held by the central bank, began selling some of its holdings last month to create liquidity. The transaction drew criticism from Venezuela's opposition arguing that the cash sent a lifeline to President Nicolas Maduro's government.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Cancel in Sao Paulo at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Katia Porzecanski in New York at kporzecansk1@bloomberg.net, Christine Jenkins in Bogota at cjenkins28@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Brendan Walsh, Eric J. Weiner
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