World’s Most Indebted Oil Major Faces $84.5 Billion Threat in Mexican Presidential Race
- Spread over Treasuries clims as candidate gains in polls
- Oil giant says new technologies, private spending needed
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Five years after a landmark overhaul of energy laws stripped Mexico’s state oil-and-gas producer of its monopoly, few investors are eager for it to be restored.
So pledges by front-running presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to turn back the clock are causing jitters among bondholders. The spread on Pemex’s $3 billion bond due in 2027 over similar-maturity Treasuries has widened by 86 basis points since Feb. 1 to 3.25 percentage points, as Lopez Obrador built up his lead in polls.