Chile to Tap Swiss Franc Bond Market for the First Time
(Bloomberg) — Chile is planning to return to international debt markets for the third time this year in its inaugural Swiss franc bond sale.
The government held an investor call earlier today for a multi-tranche debt offering. The sale will follow on from a euro issuance at the end of July and a debt sale in dollars and euros in January.
The new deal comes as the South American nation begins to narrow its fiscal deficit amid a boom in copper prices. President José Antonio Kast took office in March pledging billions of dollars in spending cuts and aiming to balance the structural budget — which takes into account cyclical effects such as copper prices and economic fluctuations — by 2030.
Chile posted a fiscal surplus of 95 billion pesos ($10 million) in July, compared with a deficit of 957 billion pesos the year earlier, following a 79% surge in revenue from the private mining industry and a 0.7% dip in spending. Gross public debt is projected to rise to 43.2% next year, before peaking at 44.2% in 2029, according to the latest quarterly public finances report from the budget office.
Investors are also turning their attention to the 2027 budget proposal, due to be presented to Congress in September, with analysts and rating agencies, including Fitch Ratings, expecting further belt-tightening.
Chilean borrowers are no strangers to the Swiss market even if the sovereign itself has stuck largely to dollars and euros. Local companies including Engie Energía Chile, Aguas Andinas and Embotelladora Andina have sold Swiss-franc bonds in recent years, while banks including Santander Chile, state-owned BancoEstado and Banco de Chile have repeatedly tapped Swiss investors. Among Latin American sovereign borrowers, Uruguay made its debut in that market in June 2025.
The Finance Ministry announced before its 3.1 billion-euro issuance in July that it planned to sell $5.2 billion of bonds in international markets over the rest of the year, indicating that approximately $1.6 billion remained to be sold.
BNP Paribas and Zürcher Kantonalbank are serving as bookrunners on the transaction.
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