Did the spread on outstanding Chilean corporate bonds grow much last fall?
They grew, but not like Brazil’s or Argentina’s, which are several hundred basis points. In the case of Chile, say in July and August, the spreads grew from about 350 basis points to 450, even 480 basis points for some of the large electricity companies. Already, the road show in Europe has produced such an interest that we see the spreads of those existing bonds shrinking further. This is exactly the sort of differentiating effect we want to produce, telling our story in full. Q: What clouds on the horizon worry you? A: At present, one: a lower copper price than projected. It has hovered recently in the range of 64 to 67 cents per pound. Our budget was originally stated in the range of 73. Fortunately, we accumulated reserves in our Copper Stabilization Fund in the good years like ’95, ’96, and ’97. We have been making partial withdrawals, as we are allowed to do under very strict rules in the bad years. But the fund is still high, $1.5 billion, so we could go for many semesters drawi
