Carmenta S.A.E.

What it is

Carmenta S.A.E. was founded in 2011 as a strategic alliance with Indian group Alok Masterbatches Pvt.

Ltd., becoming Paraguay’s first specialist maker of masterbatches — solid colour and additive concentrates blended into plastic resins to give the final product its colour, opacity or special properties.

The company produces additives and fillers for polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene resins; a masterbatch is essentially a concentrated mixture of pigments or additives dispersed in a carrier resin, delivered in pellet form — cleaner and more precise to use on a factory floor than loose powder pigments.

Its registered activity covers the import, export, trading and industrial production of pigments for plastics and plastic fabric. The factory sits in Capiatá, just outside Asunción, and sells a range of colorants, additives and fillers to plastic-product manufacturers.

Who owns it

Carmenta is a member of Grupo BARR, a Paraguayan family conglomerate that also includes Mercoplast, Propio, Estelar, Estancia Los Patrones and the Ganaderas Tembiaporendá ranching operations. Outside Paraguay the group also owns Meplast S.A. in Brazil.

The exact ownership percentage held by the Reguera family in Carmenta specifically is not disclosed in available sources, but the company is privately held within the Grupo BARR structure and has raised capital through bond issuance on the Bolsa de Valores de Asunción rather than through a public equity float.

Who runs it

Blas Atilio Reguera Riquelme serves as president of Carmenta. He holds a business-administration degree from Florida International University and an MBA from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and INCAE, and has sat on the boards of Mercoplast since 2002, Estancia Los Patrones since 2010, Carmenta since its founding in 2011, and Propio since 2016.

A CFO or dedicated general manager for Carmenta itself is not named in available sources; Grupo BARR’s corporate office is at Avenida Aviadores del Chaco, Piso 18, Asunción.

The money, in plain words

Carmenta is a bond issuer on the Asunción exchange, not an equity issuer — investors lend it money at a fixed interest rate rather than buying shares. In December 2023 it placed three series of bonds totalling G.

30,000 million (≈ US$4.95 million at today’s rate — our calculation), paying annual interest rates of 13.00%, 13.25% and 13.50% across two-, three- and four-year maturities.

The funds raised were earmarked for debt restructuring (0–40%), working capital (5–70%) and investment in infrastructure (5–15%). At the time of issuance the company carried a BBB-py stable credit rating from Solventa Riskmétrica — the Paraguayan equivalent of a low investment-grade score, implying adequate but not strong repayment capacity.

Revenue, net profit, total assets and profitability ratios are not disclosed in available sources. The company has repeatedly missed its mandatory periodic reporting deadlines (see “What to watch”), so no audited figures can be cited here.

What it is doing now

Paraguay’s Superintendencia de Valores imposed an automatic suspension on Carmenta on 18 August 2025, barring it from raising new money in the primary market, because it had not filed its quarterly periodic report for the period ending 30 June 2025. A further suspension followed on 17 November 2025 for the period ending 30 September 2025.

Earlier, on 1 April 2025, Carmenta had been suspended for failing to file even its full-year annual report for the period ending 31 December 2024. The pattern of missed filings stretches back to mid-2024, meaning no verified financial data for the 2024 fiscal year has entered the public domain.

What to watch

• Filing compliance. Until Carmenta submits its overdue annual and quarterly financial reports, investors in its outstanding bonds are flying blind. Failure to present balance sheets and financial reports puts at risk the investors who rely on that information to make decisions.
• Bond repayment. Series 1 of its guaraní-denominated bonds matures 28 December 2026. Whether the company can honour that obligation — and those of Series 2 and 3 — is the key credit question while financials remain hidden.
• Rating trajectory. A BBB-py rating can be downgraded if the issuer stays non-compliant; any rating action from Solventa Riskmétrica would be a lead indicator.
• Grupo BARR group health. Carmenta’s fortunes are tied to the wider conglomerate; any stress or asset sale within Mercoplast, Propio or the ranching operations would affect the guarantor base behind these bonds.

This is news, not investment advice.