24/7 Wall St. » SAN

Eight Countries With Credit Ratings Set to Rise Next Year

Administrator — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:14:50 +0000

It seems that all of the nations around the world are facing sovereign credit ratings downgrades or warnings of downgrades. After the United States lost its prized “AAA” rating, the threat of downgrades hangs over all of Europe. Before assuming that the whole financial system is going down the drain with Europe, it is important to realize that some key developing nations are still growing strongly and have better credit metrics. More than 15 nations may even see one or more of the top three ratings agencies upgrade their sovereign credit ratings.

24/7 Wall St. has focused on the ratings with a “positive” outlook from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and/or Fitch with a bias towards nations that investors can easily invest in via ADR shares, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The featured nations that may be upgraded in 2012 are Brazil, Chile, China (with Hong Kong), Indonesia, Peru, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey.

Read: Nations Set For Credit Ratings Beyond Upgrades, Beyond The Euro Crisis

There is another slew of countries for which S&P has a “positive” outlook stance: Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Latvia, Panama, and Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, these nations are almost impossible for Americans to invest in due to their size, the small number of public companies, and a lack of ETFs or mutual funds covering them.

The 24/7 Wall St. list is presented alphabetically and features relevant ratings. Also included are economic details and important developments to consider. Lastly, we have provided a list of the key closed-end funds, ETFs, and ADRs specific to each nation. Population estimates and purchasing power parity GDP for 2010 were taken from the CIA World Factbook.

Filed under: ADR, Austerity, Banking, Bonds, China, Commodities, Currency, Economy, Editor's Picks, Emerging Markets, ETF, International Markets, Labor & Unions Tagged: BAP, BBD, BCH, BRF, BRFS, BVN, BZF, CEE, CH, CHN, CZZ, ECH, EIDO, EPU, ERJ, ERUS, EWH, EWY, EWZ, FXI, GOL, GXC, IDX, IF, KEF, KEP, KF, LFL, MBT, MTL, PBR, PEK, PKX, RBL, RSX, RSXJ, SAN, SCCO, SKM, SKOR, SQM, TDF, TKC, TKF, TLK, TRF, TUR, VALE, VIP

Santander Raising U.S. Capital (STD, SAN)

Administrator — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:18:32 +0000

Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: STD) has filed to raise up to $1 billion in debt securities in the United States for its subsidiary Santander Holdings USA, Inc. Santander is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, which had approximately 700 community banking offices, more than 2,300 ATMs and 11,714 team members “employees) as of December 31, 2010, and it was located primarily in markets in the Northeastern United States. Santander completed the acquisition of Sovereign in early 2009 and the company’s state of incorporation changed from Pennsylvania to Virginia.

The same can be in one or more offerings of senior or subordinated debt securities. The company’s “use of proceeds” is the common ‘for general corporate purposes’ in its prospectus. The general definition includes debt reduction, possible acquisitions, stock repurchases and more. The net proceeds may be temporarily invested or used to reduce short-term debt.

Santander did not signal that this was the last financing round ever. The company specifically noted that it may engage in additional financings of a character and amount to be determined as the need arises.

Being a Spanish bank and raising money via the U.S. subsidiary is fairly impressive considering all of the turmoil in the lands of the PIIGS. The afternoon pricing of Santander ADRs is up 3.7% at $12.10 today.

The full SEC filing is here. We would note that there was a newswire release on Friday from Banco Santander Chile (NYSE: SAN) with the establishment of a US$5.5 billion Medium Term Notes Program, which also was listed being on a subordinated or unsubordinated basis. Banco Santander S.A. is the majority holder of Banco Santander Chile with some 75% of the voting control.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: ADR, Banking, Bonds, Financial Stocks, Secondary Offering, Shareholder Issues Tagged: SAN, STD

52-Week High Club (SAN, CEL, TWLL)

247wallst — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:38:32 +0000

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE: SAN) hit a yearly high of $56.51, continuing to rally

following the release of positive research on Latin American banks from Barclays. The company has also benefited from positive reception to the announcement its fellow subsidiary, Banco Santander Brasil, would be selling its stakes in credit card rating company Visanet and the Serasa credit information bureau to Santusa Holdings S.L.

Cellcom Israel Ltd (NYSE: CEL) hit a yearly high of $31.14 following an announcement that it would be exploring collaboration and merger opportunities.

Techwell Inc (NASDAQ: TWLL) hit a yearly high of $10.70 after the company raised its 3Q revenue projection.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Banking, Financial Stocks, Hardware, Semiconductors, Telecom Tagged: CEL, SAN, TWLL