Ecopetrol Restarts Dollar Debt Deal After CEO Probe Drove Delay

(Bloomberg) — Ecopetrol SA is once again testing the overseas market with an offer to sell dollar bonds. The offering comes a week after an investigation involving its chief executive officer drove the company to postpone a deal.

Colombia’s state energy firm is selling notes maturing in 2032 to help fund an extended offer to repurchase 2026 bonds, as well as prepay a portion of a 2030 loan. The deal opened on Wednesday with initial price talks for a yield in the low 8% range. Last week’s issuance was expected to price around 7.65%, according to people people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified.

The offering first hit the market on a Tuesday, Oct. 8, for an initial $1.75 billion. Later that same day, Colombia’s electoral council voted to start a probe into an alleged breach of campaign finance limits during Gustavo Petro’s run for president in 2022. By Thursday Ecopetrol’s offering was scuttled.

The case involves Petro and Ecopetrol CEO Ricardo Roa, who managed the campaign before joining the company. A separate investigation from the Attorney General’s office of Roa and Petro’s son Nicolás is ongoing.

Ecopetrol declined to comment. BBVA Securities Inc., JPMorgan Securities and Santander US Capital Markets are managing the new deal.

The Colombian driller said last week it was using a $250 million credit with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and an equal amount of its own cash to pay off half of the $1 billion loan due in 2030.

—With assistance from Michael Gambale and Brian J. Smith.