Bear Stearns Launches First Central American/Caribbean Bond Index

by Philip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

17 January 2003

New York-based investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm, Bear Stearns & Co has unveiled its Central America/Caribbean Bond Index (BSCAX), which will track around $12.6 billion in emerging markets debt, including 36 bond issues in 10 countries throughout the Caribbean and Central America.

The BSCAX was launched on Tuesday at the Bear Stearns Central American and Caribbean Credit Conference, which was attended by senior government officials from Panama, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, Barbados, Belize, and Grenada.

Speaking following the launch of the new index, head of Emerging Markets Sovereign Research at Bear Stearns, Carl Ross explained that:

'BSCAX will give investors a simple way to track the performance of what is an increasingly important part of the emerging markets universe. In addition, we can tailor this portfolio management tool to meet the individual needs of investors by comparing their portfolio with either existing indexes or a custom index.'

'Specifically, BSCAX can be instrumental to investors when developing relative value strategies and performing portfolio optimization analysis.'

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