Russian banks scratch seven year itch

Two Russian lenders converged on an unusually long maturity as privately owned Alfa Bank and the partly state owned Sberbank both issued tightly priced $1bn seven year bonds last Friday. A3/-/BBB+ rated Sberbank priced its 144A deal at a yield of 5.4%, while BA1/B+/BB rated Alfa Bank’s Reg S sale was at 7.875%.