The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) clarified on Wednesday that the recent bond issuance for 12,000 million dollars for Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) does not represent direct debt of the federal government, although it could impact its balance if the assets that support the operation are insufficient to cover the payments.
During the presentation of the economic reports of the first semester of 2025, the head of the Public Credit Unit, María del Carmen Bonilla, explained that the financial operation is “collateralized with assets” -mainly American treasure bonds.
In this sense, Bonilla explained that the Mexican government would only assume the payment if those assets are not enough and in that case, he clarified, the contingent commitment would be recorded in the fiscal reports, but not as direct debt.
“This indebtedness is used to cancel more expensive debt, the balance will not necessarily move. It is not a direct debt, it is not a direct guarantee and it is not direct debt because it is activated yes and only if the assets that the financial vehicle has failed to pay to pay in the issuance of the investor public,” said the official.
The objective, Treasury reiterated, is to support Pemex to reduce its short -term liabilities and their financial burden, without directly compromising public accounts, especially amortizations and interests in 2025 and 2026.
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Bonilla clarified that this issuance is not planned to reopen in the short term, since the originally raised amount was exceeded (from 10,000 to 12,000 million dollars) and the market responded with good demand and competitive rate.
However, the Head of the Public Credit Unit left the door open to future strategies to address the multiple debt fronts faced by the Mexican state oil company, the most indebted in the world.
“It is part of a strategy, as you know, you have to attack different aspects within the composition of the liabilities of the public company (Pemex) and what we are looking for is to stop each of them with specific financial solutions,” Bonilla concluded.
The operation, one of the largest in its kind in a single issuance, received a total demand of $ 23.4 billion from 295 institutional investors around the world, according to the Ministry of Finance.
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According to the portfolio, the placement process, which ended yesterday after eight days, marked an interest that allowed him to increase the originally expected amount of 10,000 million dollars and simultaneously improve the final conditions of the broadcast, when reaching a coupon rate of 5.5% annual.
Due to this same operation, the American financial risk rating Fitch Ratings placed the credit ratings of the Mexican state oil company in positive observation, while acknowledging that it could have positive effects that could take Pemex to climb up to two steps its note to the category ‘BB’, from ‘B+’.
Pemex reported on the eve accumulated net benefits of 16,187 million pesos (about 857 million dollars) in the first half of 2025, as well as a financial debt that amounts to 98.8 billion dollars at the close of the same period.
With EFE information.
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