GAS CORONA S.A.E.C.A.

What it is

The Gas Corona brand was launched in 1965, originally under the name Vicente Pallarés S.A., and the company gained its full legal identity on 4 August 1971. When gas cookers replaced kerosene stoves, the company pivoted decisively into that trade, and today it imports, repackages, and sells liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — the bottled gas in the familiar cylinders — and liquid fuels (petrol and diesel).

The core asset is a bottling plant in San Antonio, 300 metres from the Río Paraguay, with its own river port for loading and unloading gas, and a filling capacity of 10,000 ten-kilogram cylinders in eight hours. In the business, LPG cylinders and bulk gas account for roughly 35% of revenue, while fuel (petrol and diesel) makes up the majority — but in terms of profit margin, LPG contributes about 80% of the gross profit.

Who owns it

Ownership and control are tightly concentrated: Irundymi S.A., a holding company belonging to the Pallarés family, holds 92.65% of the shares. The remaining ~7.35% is held by other shareholders; exact free-float ownership percentages are not disclosed in available sources.

The equity base — owners’ net worth on the books — has sat around Gs. 65,000 million since 2021, held down by a policy of paying out 100% of annual profits as dividends, a practice sustained over at least the last two years reported.

To fund growth, the company has instead steadily increased paid-in capital, from Gs. 40,000 million in 2015 to Gs.

52,000 million by mid-2024.

Who runs it

The board is chaired by Luisa I. Schaerer de Pallarés as President, with María Celeste Pallarés Viveros as Vice-President.

María Celeste Pallarés also holds the position of General Manager (Gerente General), making her the key executive running the day-to-day business.

The management structure is built around three divisions — Operations, Commercial-Administrative, and Finance — plus technical and human resources support departments. As is common in family-owned companies, strategic decisions are concentrated among the directors themselves.

The money, in plain words

For every guaraní of gas and fuel Gas Corona sells, it keeps about 5.3 cents as net profit — a net margin of 5.3% (our calculation), reasonable for a commodity distribution business where prices track global oil markets and competition is fierce. For every guaraní of shareholders’ equity in the business, it earns back about 20 cents a year — a return on equity of 20.5%, strong for a regional distributor.

The company runs with modest debt: financial borrowings stood at Gs. 27,059 million (~USD 4.5 m) at June 2024, giving a debt-to-equity ratio of just 0.4 times — meaning it owes about 40 cents for every guaraní owners have put in, a conservative structure.

Revenue for the first half of 2024 came in at Gs. 89,662 million (~USD 14.8 m), down 22.2% on the same period of 2023, squeezed by lower fuel volumes and softer average selling prices.

What it is doing now

In July 2025, Gas Corona opened new bond series — Series 10 and 11 — under its fourth global bond programme (G4) on the Bolsa de Valores de Asunción. The G4 programme had already placed nine earlier series in November 2024, carrying annual interest rates starting at 8.75% with maturities of 365 to 547 days.

The company drew a brief regulatory suspension from Paraguay’s securities regulator (Superintendencia de Valores) in April 2024 for late filing of its 2023 audited annual report, a suspension lifted within days once the filing was submitted. By June 2024 its liquidity position was rated “Satisfactory” by Feller Rate, suggesting the episode was procedural rather than a sign of financial stress.

What to watch

• Fuel-price pass-through: Revenue fell 22% in H1 2024 largely because of lower fuel volumes and softer average prices — any sustained recovery in international oil prices, or a rise in domestic demand, would lift both the top line and margins quickly.
• State competition: The state fuel company Petropar holds roughly 12% of the LPG market, and growing public-sector involvement is a named risk in every rating report; watch for any policy change on subsidised state supply.
• Dividend policy vs. investment: Paying out 100% of profits constrains the equity base; any shift toward retaining earnings would strengthen the balance sheet but reduce the family’s income from the business.
• Succession and governance: All key board and management roles sit within one family; any leadership change or governance reform would be a material event for bond investors.

This is news, not investment advice.