Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., an oil producer operating in Colombia, plans to sell $400 million of seven-year notes in overseas markets, said a person familiar with the transaction.

The company hired Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. to arrange the offering, said the person, who declined to be identified because terms aren’t set. Calls by Bloomberg News to Pacific Rubiales’s offices in Toronto and Bogota seeking comment on the bond sale weren’t immediately returned.

Latin American companies are tapping international markets as speculation the worst of the global recession is over boosts demand for higher-yielding assets including sovereign and corporate debt, said Bertrand Delgado, Latin America economist at RGE Monitor, an economic research company in New York.

“There’s a lot of liquidity and investors are looking for high yield,” said Delgado. “Both governments as well as companies are taking advantage of that window of opportunity to issue bonds before interest rates start to rise.”

Earlier this year Colombia’s state-run oil producer Ecopetrol SA sold $1.5 billion of 10-year bonds and regional utility company Empresas Publicas de Medellin SA sold $500 million of 10-year securities.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lester Pimentel at lpimentel1@bloomberg.net; Andrea Jaramillo in Bogota at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 13:55 EST