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       T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

                 L A T I N   A M E R I C A

          Monday, June 6, 2022, Vol. 23, No. 106

                           Headlines



A R G E N T I N A

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires' Tango Industry Struggling to Recover


B A H A M A S

BAHAMAS: Removing Customs Duty on Dozens of Food Items


C H I L E

COCHRANE SPA: Moody's Affirms Ba1 Rating on 2027 Secured Notes


D O M I N I C A N   R E P U B L I C

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Chicken is Also Scarce in Santiago
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Curbs Inflation by 3.5% by Subsidizing Fuels
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Rate Hike is Post-Pandemic Consequence


M E X I C O

CAMPOSOL SA: Camposol Holding Reports Fourth Quarter
UNIFIN FINANCIERA: S&P Affirms 'B+' ICR, Off CreditWatch Negative


X X X X X X X X

[*] BOND PRICING: For the Week May 30 to June 3, 2022

                           - - - - -


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A R G E N T I N A
=================

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires' Tango Industry Struggling to Recover
-------------------------------------------------------------
EFE News reports that Tango shows in Argentina's capital are slowly
bouncing back from the harsh blow of pandemic-triggered lockdowns,
with that industry still in a transition phase while waiting for
foreign tourism numbers to recover and the current economic crisis
to recede.

Fans of that dance form that originated in the River Plate region
are now able to attend traditional formal tango shows, with dinner
included, although those venues are currently only open on
weekends, according to EFE News.

                    About Argentina

Argentina is a country located mostly in the southern half of South
America.  Its capital is Buenos Aires. Alberto Angel Fernandez is
the current president of Argentina after winning the October 2019
general election. He succeeded Mauricio Macri in the position.

Argentina has the third largest economy in Latin America.  The
country's economy is an upper middle-income economy for fiscal year
2019, according to the World Bank. Historically, however, its
economic performance has been very uneven, with high economic
growth alternating with severe recessions, income maldistribution
and in the recent decades, increasing poverty.

Standard & Poor's credit rating for Argentina stands at CCC+ with
stable outlook, which was a rating upgrade issued on Sept. 8,
2020.

Moody's credit rating for Argentina was last set at Ca on Sept. 28,
2020.  Fitch's credit rating for Argentina was last reported on
Sept. 11, 2020 at CCC, which was a rating upgrade from CC.  DBRS'
credit rating for Argentina is CCC, given on Sept. 11, 2020.  

As reported by The Troubled Company Reporter - Latin American, DBRS
noted that the recent upgrade in Argentina's ratings (September
2020) follows the closing of two debt restructuring agreements
between the Argentine government and private creditors.  The first
restructuring involved $65 billion in foreign-law bonds.  The deal
achieved the requisite participation necessary to trigger the
collective action clauses and finalize the restructuring on 99% on
the aggregate principal outstanding of eligible bonds.  DBRS added
that the debt restructurings conclude a prolonged default and
provide the government with substantial principal and interest
payment relief over the next four years.

Argentina obtained on March 25, 2022, approval from the Executive
Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of a 30-month
extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF)
amounting to SDR 31.914 billion (equivalent to US$44 billion).
Under the new terms, Argentina secured a much-needed grace period
that postpones repayment of its debt. However, IMF warned of
exceptionally high risks to the program.




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B A H A M A S
=============

BAHAMAS: Removing Customs Duty on Dozens of Food Items
------------------------------------------------------
RJR News reports that the Bahamas Government has outlined its
intention to remove the customs duty from roughly three dozen food
items amid a historic rise in inflation.

Prime Minister Philip Davis tabled the Excise (Amendment) Bill,
2022 and Tariff (Amendment) Act, 2022 in the House of Assembly,
according to RJR News.

The majority of the food items being made duty-free had a duty rate
of five per cent, the report notes.

These items include diary products, vegetables and meats, the
report relays.

Mr. Davis said the duty and excise reductions would assist in
lowering the cost of living for Bahamians who have in recent months
complained about rising inflation, the report adds.




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C H I L E
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COCHRANE SPA: Moody's Affirms Ba1 Rating on 2027 Secured Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service affirmed the Ba1 senior secured rating of
the 2027 notes issued by Empresa Electrica Cochrane SpA (Cochrane)
and changed its outlook to stable from negative.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The affirmation of Cochrane's Ba1 and the outlook stabilization
reflect Moody's view that the project's counterparty risk remains
adequate for the rating. Cochrane's Ba1 rating is driven by the
robust terms of its availability-based Power Purchase Agreements
(PPA) that include termination clauses and capacity payments that
underpin the project's ability to service the debt and maintain a
Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) of at least 1.40x for the life
of the transaction. Cochrane's Ba1 rating, is constrained by the
weighted average credit quality of the PPA counterparties,
including Sierra Gorda SCM (SG; 52% of the load), Quebrada Blanca
S.A. expansion (QB2; 25% of the load) and Sociedad Quimica y Minera
de Chile S.A. (SQM; Baa1 stable; 23% of the load).

In April 2021, the release of the financial support provided by the
shareholders of Cochrane's offtaker to Sierra Gorda SCM (Sierra
Gorda) under the PPA weakened the project's counterparty risk and
triggered the negative outlook on Cochrane's ratings. However,
today's rating action factors Moody's perception of an improvement
in the financial profile of this mining company over the last 12
months, as well as completion of the change in its ownership
structure after the acquisition of a 45% minority interest by
South32 Limited (Baa1 stable) for a purchase price of $1.4 billion
at the end of February 2022. The action also considers the outlook
stabilization of the power project's off-taker Sociedad Quimica y
Minera de Chile S.A. (Baa1 stable) in September 2021, reflecting
its improved financial performance and adequate liquidity. In
addition, today's rating action is also predicated on the
expectation that QB2's standalone credit quality will be near to
the rating of its majority shareholder, Teck Resources Limited
(Baa3 stable) upon the release of its shareholders' guarantees that
Moody's currently anticipate will occur by year-end 2023.

Cochrane's Ba1 rating is tempered by its exposure to carbon
transition risk owing to its coal-fired generation operations,
although its long-term contracted operations and the fully
amortizing nature of the 144Reg(A) notes help to mitigate this
risk. The project's aggressive cash distributions and lack of
typical project finance features (including a Debt Service Reserve
Account) also temper Moody's view of Cochrane's credit quality.
That said, Cochrane's parent company, AES Andes S.A. (Baa3 stable),
has committed to maintain a cash balance of $20-$25 million at all
times to support Cochrane's liquidity. The credit is also tempered
by some uncertainty around the plant's future in the aftermath of
AES Corporation's (The) (AES, Baa3 stable) accelerated
decarbonization goals. AES intends to exit all coal-fired
generation operations by year-end 2025 through the retirement, fuel
conversions or sale of its subsidiaries' plants. Moody's assumes
that Cochrane will remain one of the last coal-fired plants within
the AES group's fleet, owing to the limited prospects of an early
retirement before the notes maturity given the reliability
challenges of the Chilean power system amid the growing penetration
of renewables. Also, Cochrane remains important in AES Andes'
Greentegra strategy. Mitigating the risk of AES Andes' selling its
ownership interest in Cochrane, are the notes change of control
provision that would trigger an early redemption of the 144Reg(A)
notes at 101% with the remaining balance of these notes expected to
aggregate $285 million at year-end 2022.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATING

Factors that could lead to a downgrade

A downgrade of Cochrane is likely if Moody's sees deterioration in
the offtakers' credit quality, leading to a weighted average
counterparty risk that is weakly positioned for the Ba1 rating. For
example, if Sierra Gorda's financial performance does not sustain
significant improvement or if the release of QB2's guarantees
result in weaker than anticipated standalone credit quality.

Negative pressure on the rating will also be considered if Moody's
sees a higher than anticipated risk for Cochrane's exposure to
carbon transition, a more aggressive cash distribution policy or
additional changes to its ownership and capital structure that
translate into unexpected negative consequences on the issuer's
ability to service debt on time. Quantitatively, a downgrade will
be consider  if the project's DSCR (Moody's-calculated) falls
below 1.4x, on a sustained basis.

Factors that could lead to an upgrade

An upgrade of the rating is possible if Moody's perceive that
Cochrane's weighted average counterparty risk improves
significantly along with a material improvement in the financial
credit metrics, including a DSCR above 1.8x, on a sustained basis.

The principal methodology used in this rating was Power Generation
Projects Methodology published in January 2022.

Cochrane, is a privately held joint-stock special purpose vehicle
organized under the laws of the Republic of Chile. Its indirect
shareholders are AES Andes S.A. (57%; Baa3 stable), the Investment
Fund TIF Inversiones SpA (3%), owned by Toesca Infraestructura II
Fondo de Inversión, as well as DE Cochrane SpA, subsidiary of
Daelin Energy Co. Cochrane owns and operates a 550 MW (gross)
coal-fired generation facility in Chile (A1 negative). Cochrane's
three offtakers are: (i) SQM (Baa1, stable; 110MW); (ii) Sierra
Gorda (unrated; 251MW) and (iii) QB2 (unrated: 122 MW). QB2's
obligations remain guaranteed by its main shareholders, that is by
Teck Resources Limited (Baa3 stable; two-thirds) along with
Sumitomo and SMM (total: one-third).




===================================
D O M I N I C A N   R E P U B L I C
===================================

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Chicken is Also Scarce in Santiago
------------------------------------------------------
Dominican Today reports that chicken producers in the Cibao region
acknowledged that there are shortages and speculation about the
prices of this product, despite their decision to increase
production.

The president of the Association of Small and Medium Chicken
Producers of Licey and Moca (Apreprodomi), Ambiorix Cabrera,
revealed to the Listin Diario that as a result of the great demand
for white meat, they increased the production and that even so, the
shortage persists, according to Dominican Today.

Cabrera added that they produced between 15 and 16 million units of
chickens and that they were more than enough to supply the national
market, but that with the increasing demand, they decided to
increase it to 18.5 million and that there are still problems with
supply.

The poultry farmer said that when they saw that they could not
supply, they began to import fertile eggs, but now they are not
doing so because they do not appear in the international market due
to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In this context, he said that the situation tends to worsen as the
days go by and the war between Russia and Ukraine worsens. We are
working hard so that there are no problems with the distribution of
chickens, but we believe that the government should look for
alternatives to overcome the situation", he emphasized.

Corn subsidies

According to Cabrera, the government is applying a corn subsidy,
which only benefits the large importers of corn and soybeans.

He stressed that what was needed was to consult with chicken
producers, analyze the costs of production and other ingredients,
and then seek measures so that this meat product reaches the
population at reasonable prices and avoids speculation.

He indicated that producers are selling chicken at 46 pesos at the
farm and that even so, it is not profitable.

The president of Aprepromodi insisted that there is speculation
because there are people who sell the pound of chickens at the
price that "they want," so he asked the government to establish
price controls.

He said that importing chickens is more expensive than producing
them in the country, "The whole world has problems with production.
Here in the Dominican Republic there is a great demand even though
we are increasing production, there is a shortage,"he complained.

Cabrera said that people used to eat pigs, but there are none, and
beef is costly; that is why they prefer to buy chickens; he said
that he sees no reason for traders to sell the pound for between 85
and 100 pesos.

               About Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that shares the island
of Hispaniola with Haiti to the west. Capital city Santo Domingo
has Spanish landmarks like the Gothic Catedral Primada de America
dating back 5 centuries in its Zona Colonial district. Luis Rodolfo
Abinader Corona is the current president of the nation.

TCRLA reported in April 2019 that the Dominican Today related that
Juan Del Rosario of the UASD Economic Faculty cited a current
economic slowdown for the Dominican Republic and cautioned that if
the trend continues, growth would reach only 4% by 2023. Mr. Del
Rosario said that if that happens, "we'll face difficulties in
meeting international commitments."

An ongoing concern in the Dominican Republic is the inability of
participants in the electricity sector to establish financial
viability for the system.

Fitch Ratings, in December 2021, revised the Outlook on Dominican
Republic's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR)
to Stable from Negative and affirmed the IDRs at 'BB-'.  The
revision of the Outlook to Stable reflects the narrowing of
Dominican Republic's government deficit and financing needs since
Fitch's last review resulting in the stabilization of the
government debt/GDP ratio, as well as the investment-driven
economic momentum, reflected in the faster-than-expected economic
recovery in 2021 that Fitch expects to carry into above-potential
GDP growth during 2022 and 2023.

Standard & Poor's, also in December 2021, revised its outlook on
the Dominican Republic to stable from negative.  S&P also affirmed
its 'BB-' long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit
ratings and its 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings.  The
stable outlook reflects S&P's expectation of continued favorable
GDP growth and policy continuity over the next 12 to 18 months that
will likely stabilize the government's debt burden, despite lack of
progress with broader tax reforms, S&P said.  A rapid economic
recovery from the downturn because of the pandemic should mitigate
external and fiscal risks.

Moody's affirmed the Dominican Republic's long-term issuer and
senior unsecured ratings at Ba3 and maintained the stable outlook
in March 2021.


DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Curbs Inflation by 3.5% by Subsidizing Fuels
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dominican Today reports that inflation in the Dominican Republic
has accumulated an inter-annual increase of 9.64%, but the Minister
of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes, Victor "Ito" Bisono, assures
that thanks to fuel subsidies, an additional increase of 3.5% has
been contained.

In an interview with Efe, Bisono also analyzes the strength of the
free trade zones, the main export sector of the Dominican Republic,
and discusses the trade agreement that the Caribbean country is
negotiating with Colombia, according to Dominican Today.

Bisono tells Efe that they "have not taken loans for subsidies, but
we have relied on savings, cuts, and 'efficiency' of the State's
resources.  This, together with the increase in revenues resulting
from the economy's growth, has allowed us to invest 17 billion
pesos to date (some 308 million dollars) this year."

"I say invest because we have managed to reduce inflation by 3.5%,
which means that society can be more relaxed with this. Therefore,
we can continue to receive investments and compensate for what we
spend on the subsidy of hydrocarbons," Bisono continues, according
to Efe.

When asked how long these subsidies will be affordable, Bisono
says, "We review the outlook every six months in the economic team.
The budget is done once a year, but when we meet, the volatility of
the markets is so irregular that we cannot make long-term plans. So
we look at it in the medium term, aware that there are junctures
that we may have to sort out. That's what market volatility says."

Bisono also tells Efe they have a clear strategy for managing free
zones and relates that since they've been with the Government, they
have communicated with more than 350 companies of American capital
(. . . ) to attract those investments.  

"The 'nearshoring' (relocation to a nearby country) in the
Dominican Republic is a reality.  This year we have reached, to
date, 185,000 direct jobs. Each of these jobs has three indirect
jobs," Bisono relays.  "When we took office in August 2020, we
found 135,000; that is, we have increased by 55,000 plus indirect
jobs."

Bisono tells Efe further that the government has been working see
the partners with whom we can have a win-win situation, including
Chile and Colombia.

On other news, Bisono says it still is not the right time for a tax
reform project, while in the middle of the volatility of markets
and commodities.

                    About Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that shares the island
of Hispaniola with Haiti to the west. Capital city Santo Domingo
has Spanish landmarks like the Gothic Catedral Primada de America
dating back 5 centuries in its Zona Colonial district. Luis Rodolfo
Abinader Corona is the current president of the nation.

TCRLA reported in April 2019 that the Dominican Today related that
Juan Del Rosario of the UASD Economic Faculty cited a current
economic slowdown for the Dominican Republic and cautioned that if
the trend continues, growth would reach only 4% by 2023. Mr. Del
Rosario said that if that happens, "we'll face difficulties in
meeting international commitments."

An ongoing concern in the Dominican Republic is the inability of
participants in the electricity sector to establish financial
viability for the system.

Fitch Ratings, in December 2021, revised the Outlook on Dominican
Republic's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR)
to Stable from Negative and affirmed the IDRs at 'BB-'.  The
revision of the Outlook to Stable reflects the narrowing of
Dominican Republic's government deficit and financing needs since
Fitch's last review resulting in the stabilization of the
government debt/GDP ratio, as well as the investment-driven
economic momentum, reflected in the faster-than-expected economic
recovery in 2021 that Fitch expects to carry into above-potential
GDP growth during 2022 and 2023.

Standard & Poor's, also in December 2021, revised its outlook on
the Dominican Republic to stable from negative.  S&P also affirmed
its 'BB-' long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit
ratings and its 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings.  The
stable outlook reflects S&P's expectation of continued favorable
GDP growth and policy continuity over the next 12 to 18 months that
will likely stabilize the government's debt burden, despite lack of
progress with broader tax reforms, S&P said.  A rapid economic
recovery from the downturn because of the pandemic should mitigate
external and fiscal risks.

Moody's affirmed the Dominican Republic's long-term issuer and
senior unsecured ratings at Ba3 and maintained the stable outlook
in March 2021.


DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Rate Hike is Post-Pandemic Consequence
----------------------------------------------------------
The vice-dean of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the
Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), Antonio Ciriaco,
said that the "Paulatino" increase in the annual interest rate of
the Central Bank's monetary policy is a consequence of the measures
taken during the COVID pandemic.

Ciriaco explained that, during the pandemic, the Central Bank
granted commercial banks 215 billion pesos at 3% interest so that
they would grant financing to companies affected by the recent
crisis at an interest rate no higher than 8%.

"There the opposite effect occurred. The Central Bank cheapened the
resources and all those who had difficulty went to the commercial
banks and lent them cheap money," said Ciriaco during an interview
on the El Despertador broadcast by Color Visión.

Likewise, Ciriaco warned that those who took loans during the
pandemic period of the funds granted by the Central Bank should not
experience increases in the interest rates of the acquired
financing.

However, he emphasized that those who have taken loans recently
will do so with a variable interest rate. This is because the
increase in the monetary policy is staggered depending on the
national and international factors affecting the national economy,
such as the levels of imported inflation.

Antonio Ciriaco also clarified that each increase in the Central
Bank's monetary policy is reflected approximately two months after
the change.

"This means that if this is prolonged, we will possibly have
average rates around 14 and 15 percent which is relatively high,"he
added.

In turn, this would result in the population's income levels being
affected by the increase in the interest rate because this would be
an unscheduled expense.

                     About Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that shares the island
of Hispaniola with Haiti to the west. Capital city Santo Domingo
has Spanish landmarks like the Gothic Catedral Primada de America
dating back 5 centuries in its Zona Colonial district. Luis Rodolfo
Abinader Corona is the current president of the nation.

TCRLA reported in April 2019 that the Dominican Today related that
Juan Del Rosario of the UASD Economic Faculty cited a current
economic slowdown for the Dominican Republic and cautioned that if
the trend continues, growth would reach only 4% by 2023. Mr. Del
Rosario said that if that happens, "we'll face difficulties in
meeting international commitments."

An ongoing concern in the Dominican Republic is the inability of
participants in the electricity sector to establish financial
viability for the system.

Fitch Ratings, in December 2021, revised the Outlook on Dominican
Republic's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR)
to Stable from Negative and affirmed the IDRs at 'BB-'.  The
revision of the Outlook to Stable reflects the narrowing of
Dominican Republic's government deficit and financing needs since
Fitch's last review resulting in the stabilization of the
government debt/GDP ratio, as well as the investment-driven
economic momentum, reflected in the faster-than-expected economic
recovery in 2021 that Fitch expects to carry into above-potential
GDP growth during 2022 and 2023.

Standard & Poor's, also in December 2021, revised its outlook on
the Dominican Republic to stable from negative.  S&P also affirmed
its 'BB-' long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit
ratings and its 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings.  The
stable outlook reflects S&P's expectation of continued favorable
GDP growth and policy continuity over the next 12 to 18 months that
will likely stabilize the government's debt burden, despite lack of
progress with broader tax reforms, S&P said.  A rapid economic
recovery from the downturn because of the pandemic should mitigate
external and fiscal risks.

Moody's affirmed the Dominican Republic's long-term issuer and
senior unsecured ratings at Ba3 and maintained the stable outlook
in March 2021.




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M E X I C O
===========

CAMPOSOL SA: Camposol Holding Reports Fourth Quarter
----------------------------------------------------
Camposol Holding PLC reports fourth quarter and audited full year
2021 financial results

CSOL Holding's 2021 EBITDA from continuing operations amounted to
USD 113.4 million and the corresponding EBITDA margin was 29.4%.
Sales amounted to USD 385.8 million, up 12.4% compared to 2020,
explained mainly due to increases in blueberries volumes, and also
due to more hectares in medium and high yield phase compared to
2020. As of December 31st, 2021, the Company maintained a cash
balance of USD 30.5 million.

The Company continues executing its strategy to become a year-round
supplier of fresh fruit to our global clients complementing its
Peruvian window operations with investments in Colombia, Uruguay
and lately in Chile, and capitalizing on its commercial and
logistic platforms.

A full text copy of the company's press release is available at:
https://bit.ly/3au4UTM

                        About CAMPOSOL

Camposol is a multinational company that provides families around
the world with fresh and healthy food. It has operations in Peru,
Colombia, and Uruguay, commercial offices in the United States,
Europe, and Asia, trusting relationships with the main supermarkets
worldwide, as well as customers in more than 40 countries. It is
involved in the harvest, processing and marketing of high quality
agricultural products such as avocados, blueberries, grapes,
mangoes and mandarins, among others.


UNIFIN FINANCIERA: S&P Affirms 'B+' ICR, Off CreditWatch Negative
-----------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings, on June 1, 2022, affirmed its 'B+' global and
'mxBBB-/mxA-3' national scale issuer credit ratings on Unifin
Financiera S.A.B. de C.V. (Unifin).  At the same time, S&P affirmed
its 'B+' and 'CCC+' issue-level ratings on Unifin's senior
unsecured notes and subordinated perpetual notes, respectively.
Finally, S&P removed the ratings from CreditWatch negative.  The
outlook is negative on both rating scales.

On June 1, 2022, Unifin Financiera S.A.B. de C.V. (Unifin) reached
an agreement with the bondholders of its $200 million international
unsecured notes to extend the debt maturity to May 2024 from August
2022.

Under the agreement, the new debt's maturity will be extended to
May 2024 from August 2022. Additionally, the principal amount
remains unchanged, as well as the debt's seniority, interest rate,
and timing of interest payments (semiannual). S&P said, "In our
opinion, the investors are compensated for the extended tenor. On
the other hand, we don't consider the lender was dependent on debt
restructuring to avoid a default. This is because this debt
represented only about 5% of Unifin's financial liabilities, and
there were other mechanisms available to address this maturity.
Therefore, we consider Unifin's debt restructuring as a treasury
management strategy, rather than a distressed restructuring."

Unifin was able to roll over most of its debt in the first quarter
of 2022. S&P said, "We believe this enabled the lender to operate
under difficult industry conditions. In this regard, we'll continue
monitoring the bank's risk appetite and its willingness to lend to
Unifin." Although this agreement reduced liquidity concerns, the
full materialization of Unifin's funding strategy is still pending.
For the rest of the year, Unifin has up to MXN16.2 billion of
financial obligations: upcoming bank amortizations of MXN5 billion
and the renewal of revolving credit lines of up to MXN11.2
billion.

S&P said, "Our base-case scenario assumes that Unifin will be able
to continue renewing its bank credit lines. Additionally, the
lender plans to issue unsecured or secured debt in the domestic
capital market, particularly a medium-term debt of up to MXN4
billion, with partial guarantees from a development bank. Moreover,
we expect Unifin to continue slowing down the origination pace and
focus on loan payment collections to accumulate cash, as seen in
recent months. Finally, as of the first quarter of 2022, the lender
had available credit lines from Mexican development banks for up to
MXN4.5 billion.

"Unifin's priority debt (secured debt) represented about 9.2% of
its adjusted assets as of March 2022. The lender's unencumbered
assets covered about 1.7x of its rated unsecured debt as of the
same date. We expect secured lending to gradually increase as a
portion of total funding, because limits on unsecured funding will
remain in place. In the next 12 months, we estimate priority debt
to represent about 10.9%, while unencumbered assets will cover
about 1.6x. The latter reflects that Unifin has room for additional
secured funding without breaching unencumbered assets to unsecured
debt covenants and/or our threshold for senior debt subordination.

"The international unsecured credit market--particularly for
independent NBFIs in the region--remains partly closed after the
default of several of these entities. As of March 2022,
international market debt represented about 55% of Unifin's funding
base, followed by credit facilities (30%) and local securitizations
(15%). We believe Unifin will continue to substitute international
market debt with secured and unsecured issuances mainly in the
domestic capital market. In this regard, we believe that terms and
conditions of those alternative sources could affect Unifin's
weighted average duration of its maturity profile and
collateralization levels, pressuring its funding profile and
financial flexibility.

"While MXN181 million in extraordinary gains related to the
international bond repayment boosted Unifin's bottom-line results
in the first quarter, we believe that profitability will remain
under pressure and below pre-pandemic levels for the rest of 2022.
Despite the potential benefit of the government guarantee on
Unifin's future unsecured issuances, it could face higher funding
costs, reflecting Mexico's likely interest-rate hikes stemming from
inflationary pressures and the funding challenges for domestic
NBFIs. In this regard, we expect Unifin's return on adjusted assets
(ROAA) to slip to about 1.4% for 2022-2023 from 1.7% in 2021 and
the five-year average of 2.7%.

"The drop in this metric will be because of mid-single digit loan
growth, compared with the 20.2% five-year historical average rate,
reflected in lower operating revenues. We expect a conservative
dividend policy to offset below-historical bottom-line results in
2022, as was the case in the past 24 months. We expect the firm's
capitalization to remain at 7.8% on average in the next 12-24
months.

"Asset quality slightly improved in the recent months, given that
the NPA ratio dropped to 6.6% in the first quarter of 2022 from
7.4% in the same quarter of 2021. Mexico's gradual economic
recovery has alleviated pressure on the borrowers, but uncertainty
about the recovery pace, structural economic bottlenecks in Mexico,
and Unifin's exposure to small- to mid-size enterprise (SME) loans
could raise its NPAs and widen its credit losses. We also note that
Unifin's originations have been mainly through Uniclick--working
capital and structured loans- business lines that are different
from the firm's core leasing products. Such loans have higher NPL
ratios than its traditional products. On the other hand, the client
concentration has remained consistent with our assessment of
Unifin's risk position. Its top 20 credit exposures represented
about 24% of total portfolio as of March 2022. Therefore, payment
failure on these loans could raise NPAs and credit-loss provisions.
Finally, we expect Unifin's NPA plus NCO ratio to be 8.5%-9.0%
during the next 12 months, still in line with our evaluation of the
lender's risk position. We also expect the loan-loss reserves
coverage of NPAs to remain low at about 50%. Nevertheless, as a
leasing company, Unifin owns the leased asset, which mitigates
potential credit losses.

"In our view, Unifin's business position benefits from the lender's
status as one of the largest independent leasing companies in the
region. This has mitigated the effect of difficult operating
conditions and stricter origination practices, with operating
revenues increasing around 13% year over year as of March 2022.
Nevertheless, we believe Unifin's operations will remain vulnerable
to the economic downturn due to its exposure to SMEs. In this
sense, we expect operating revenue to decrease about 2% in 2022 due
to lower net interest income as lending expansion will be modest.
As of March 2022, Unifin largely operates in the leasing segment,
which represented 71% of total revenue and 68.2% of the loan
portfolio. The rest of Unifin's revenue comes from structured
finance and working capital loans, factoring, auto loans, and
unsecured loans (Uniclick), which we consider to be riskier
products. We don't expect significant changes in its revenue mix in
the following year, although we expect the lender to maintain its
solid presence in Mexico's leasing segment."




===============
X X X X X X X X
===============

[*] BOND PRICING: For the Week May 30 to June 3, 2022
-----------------------------------------------------
Issuer Name              Cpn     Price   Maturity  Country  Curr
-----------              ---     -----   --------  -------   ---
Polarcus Ltd               5.6    71.8     7/1/2022    AE     USD
Noble Holding Internat     6.2    62.2     8/1/2040    KY     USD
Avadel Finance Cayman      4.5    55.0     2/1/2023    US     USD
Automotores Gildemeist     6.8    54.9    1/15/2023    CL     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     0.5    27.6   12/31/2038    AR     JPY
Odebrecht Finance Ltd      6.0    16.4     4/5/2023    KY     USD
AES Tiete Energia SA       6.8     1.2    4/15/2024    BR     BRL
Noble Holding Internat     5.3    60.5    3/15/2042    KY     USD
Provincia de Cordoba       7.1    72.7     8/1/2027    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     8.3    74.5   12/31/2033    AR     USD
Fospar S/A                 6.5     1.2    5/15/2026    BR     BRL
Cia Latinoamericana de     9.5    73.9    7/20/2023    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     6.3    74.1    11/9/2047    AR     EUR
Argentina Bonar Bonds      7.6    74.4    4/18/2037    AR     USD
Provincia de Rio Negro     7.8    70.4    12/7/2025    AR     USD
Odebrecht Finance Ltd      6.0    16.4     4/5/2023    KY     USD
Metrogas SA/Chile          6.0    41.6     8/1/2024    CL     CLP
Province of Santa Fe       6.9    75.2    11/1/2027    AR     USD
Provincia de Cordoba       7.1    74.7     8/1/2027    AR     USD
Esval SA                   3.5    49.9    2/15/2026    CL     CLP
Province of Santa Fe       6.9    75.2    11/1/2027    AR     USD
Provincia del Chubut A     4.5    2208    3/30/2021    AR     USD
Province of Santa Fe       6.9    74.7    11/1/2027    AR     USD
Odebrecht Finance Ltd      6.0    16.4     4/5/2023    KY     USD
Argentina Bonar Bonds      5.8    75.2    4/18/2025    AR     USD
Noble Holding Internat     6.1    62.0     3/1/2041    KY     USD
Automotores Gildemeist     6.8    54.9    1/15/2023    CL     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     8.3    72.9   12/31/2033    AR     USD
Provincia de Rio Negro     7.8    70.3    12/7/2025    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     8.3    72.9   12/31/2033    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     6.9    75.2    1/11/2048    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     8.3    74.5   12/31/2033    AR     USD
Provincia del Chaco Ar     4.0     0.0    12/4/2026    AR     USD
Cia Latinoamericana de     9.5    74.3    7/20/2023    AR     USD
Sylph Ltd                  2.4    65.1    9/25/2036    KY     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     4.3    70.0   12/31/2033    AR     JPY
Provincia de Buenos Ai     7.9    75.3    6/15/2027    AR     USD
Province of Santa Fe       6.9    74.7    11/1/2027    AR     USD
City of Cordoba Argent     7.9    73.1    9/29/2024    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     8.3    72.9   12/31/2033    AR     USD
Argentine Republic Gov     7.1    75.7    6/28/2117    AR     USD
Provincia del Chaco Ar     9.4    74.8    8/18/2024    AR     USD
Provincia de Rio Negro     7.8    70.3    12/7/2025    AR     USD



                           *********


S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America is a daily newsletter
co-published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless
Hills, Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C.,
USA, Marites O. Claro, Joy A. Agravante, Rousel Elaine T.
Fernandez, Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A.
Chapman, Editors.

Copyright 2022.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2746.

This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
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of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription or
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contact Peter A. Chapman at 215-945-7000.
.


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