Paraguay’s $825.9 Million Debt Offering

Cleary Gottlieb represented Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Itau BBA USA Securities Inc., and Santander Investment Securities Inc., as initial purchasers, in the Republic of Paraguay’s (Paraguay) issuance of $600 million 2.739% bonds due 2033 and $225.9 million 5.4% bonds due 2050, which have been admitted to trading on the Euro MTF Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The offering launched on January 20, 2021, priced on January 21, 2021, and closed on January 29, 2021.

The 2050 bonds constitute a further issuance of, and were consolidated to form a single series with, the $950 million aggregate principal amount of Paraguay’s outstanding 5.4% bonds due 2050 issued on February 7, 2019, and January 21, 2020.

The bonds offering was made concurrent with the first-time-ever offer to purchase for cash certain outstanding bonds of Paraguay, which launched and expired on January 20, 2021, and settled on January 27, 2021. Cleary represented Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Itau BBA USA Securities Inc., and Santander Investment Securities Inc., as joint dealer managers, for the offer to purchase. This transaction also constituted the first liability management exercise by Paraguay since the enactment of Law No. 6638/20 in November 2020.

Paraguay used a portion of the net proceeds of the sale of the bonds to pay the purchase price of outstanding bonds accepted in the offer to purchase. The remaining proceeds will be applied to partially finance the implementation of measures designed to support economic activity, employment, and protect vulnerable sectors, including COVID-19-related government response through Uruguay’s broad social safety net and to general purposes of the government, including financial investment and the refinancing, repurchase, or retiring of domestic and external indebtedness.