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Fitch followed up last week's default from Cimento Tupi with a report warning that refinancing risk is "elevated" for Latin American corporates rated single-B or below that have bonds of under $400m outstanding.
Having failed to make a $9m payment on May 11, Brazilian cement company Tupi saw the 30 day grace period expire last week without curing the missed payment, leading Fitch and Standard & Poor's to place the company in default.
S&P said that Tupi's default took the global number of corporate defaults so far in 2015 to 50 -- the highest number recorded at this point in the year since 2009, the nadir of the financial crisis. 12 of these defaults have been emerging market credits.
Tupi's is the second Brazilian default in two weeks, after agribusiness Ceagro defaulted when the 15 day grace period on a missed bond payment expired on May 31.
Fitch said in a report that it expects operating cash flows in Latin America "will not recover" in 2015,...