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Colombia’s Atlantis stays below surface in choppy seas

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Home to a Hard Rock Cafe and a Tower Records, Colombia’s bustling Atlantis mall is preparing to make some noise of its own. This magnet for Bogota’s stylish set has sold assets into a Ps50.9 billion (US$17.8 million) trust structured by Santander Investment.

The deal is backed by all of the concession rights between Atlantis and its locales -which ensure a flow of rent income – and other assets such as parking fees. “There’s a variety of assets,” said Felipe Iragorri, assistant director at Duff & Phelps, which rated the transaction AA+’ on the national scale. Apart from Hard Rock and Tower, the place features popular homegrown stores like Hot Line and Almacenes Brissa.

While Santander has finished the road show, it is waiting for calmer seas to bring Atlantis to the surface. “We’ve seen a lot of volatility in the last two weeks,” said a source close to the deal. “If we were to price right now it would yield about 9.6%. The issuer wants something closer to 9.2%.”

Santander will issue two tranches off the trust. One is a seven-year bond for Ps13 billion (US$4.6 million); the other is a ten-year worth Ps37.9 billion (US$13.3 million). Both will price at a spread to CPI. Proceeds will be used to repay shorter-term loans taken out to fund the construction of the mall two years ago. “A lot of those credits mature in the next couple of years. With this deal Atlantis is pushing out maturities,” said the source. Some 90% of the concession contracts backing the deal last for seven years or more, dovetailing with the deal’s maturities.

Bolstering the rating is a Ps3 billion (US$1.1 million) backing from Bancolombia, which will make any missed payment for up to that amount. In such an event, Atlantis’ repayment to Bancolombia would be subordinated to future coupon payments.

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