Alfa Bank Russian sub surfaces

Alfa Bank Russia opened books on a long awaited subordinated dollar deal on Wednesday, pushing on with its first new style tier two despite a sharp fall in the rouble’s value and an intensifying conflict in Ukraine. The deal comes less than a week after Gazprom priced the first international Russian benchmark since July. But Alfa has been planning its sale for months, and was not pulled to market by a pathfinding corporate bond, said bankers on the deal.