Alternative sources of finance considered
US Eximbank has restrictions on the amounts that it can lend based on the percentage of US content, percentage of local content and interest capitalised during construction. The sponsors originally had planned a Rule 144A bond offering through Salomon Brothers for the amount of funding still required after the commercial banks and US Eximbank had made their commitments. However, after the devaluation of the peso in December 1994 the bond market became unavailable to Mexico. The sponsors approached the IDB, which was willing to lend money but was not willing to incur construction risk. The market reopened a surprisingly short six months later, when the Mexican government did a US$1 billion bond issue, but by that time the IDB had already committed itself to filling the gap that the 144A tranche would have filled.