Belarus

Development bank also exploring funding package for Ukraine

Belarus's sovereign bonds tumbled on Monday morning at the prospect of further EU sanctions.

Belarus this week gave investors a chance to demonstrate the ESG credentials they are often so keen to trumpet. Few took it. Although the country’s sovereign bonds sold off in the wake of the controversial arrest of a journalist on Sunday, investors gave a number of reasons why issues such as human rights violations were no deterrent to buying an issuer’s bonds. But there are signs those excuses may not hold up for ever, writes Mariam Meskin.

Following the international outcry over the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane carrying a Belarusian dissident, some emerging markets investors are said to have had sudden doubts about the ESG characteristics of Belarusian sovereign bonds. What took them so long?

The EU has agreed to hit Belarus with sanctions and restrictions in the aftermath of the grounding of a Ryanair flight and the arrest of one of its passengers, journalist and activist Roman Protasevich. Market participants say that market access for the sovereign is in doubt.

Investors have turned against Belarus after an opposition blogger and journalist was arrested by authorities on Sunday in extraordinary circumstances, with the country's dollar bonds dropping sharply on Monday morning.

The European Union is to impose sanctions on leading Belarusian officials after condemning the country’s presidential election as rigged. But bond investors are not in panic mode.

Political unrest in Belarus has thrown up difficult questions for emerging market investors, as ESG concerns rise and those who would buy still not seeing an attractive opportunity to do so.

Just one week after selling $1.25bn of bonds, Belarus’s yield curve has widened as protests hit the country.

The Republic of Belarus ditched euros on its return to bond markets on Wednesday, printing two dollar tranches on which it was able to ratchet pricing tighter.

The Republic of Belarus is taking a second run at the new issue market after its first round of marketing ran into Covid-19.

The Republic of Belarus will roadshow a dollar and euro dual trancher next week, but made it clear in the mandate announcement that there may be a wait before the bond is printed.

Belarusian food retailer Eurotorg has hit the Russian rouble-denominated debt capital markets for the second time this year, raising a Rb3.5bn ($52m) loan.

Eurotorg, the Belarusian food retailer, issued its debut Russian rouble bond last week, paving the way for the Belarusian government to follow suit.

The Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus raised $500m with its first ever Eurobond on Wednesday, slicing 25bp off its yield from initial price thoughts.

The Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus has released initial price guidance for its Eurobond debut at 7% area for a five year Reg S/144A dollar bond. A banker away from the deal called the level fair.

The Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus (DBRB) will go on the road this week, promoting its first ever international dollar Eurobond.

Belarus is working to issue its first sovereign Panda bond, GlobalRMB understands.

The market volatility of recent weeks has claimed another IPO victim, Belarusian retailer Eurotorg, which postponed its listing on Tuesday, the last day of bookbuilding.

Two listings from Slovenia and Belarus are due to close this week and the sellers are hopeful of getting the deals across the line, despite market challenges.

Eurotorg, the largest supermarket chain in Belarus, has fixed a price range for its landmark IPO on the London Stock Exchange, which could value the company at almost $1bn.

Eurotorg, the biggest supermarket group in Belarus, has announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange, paving the way for the first big international IPO of a Belarusian company.

Belarus’s state-owned BeIinvestbank is in talks to raise a €50m syndicated loan, in a rare international deal for the country.

The Republic of Belarus has printed its $600m 12 year bond through its curve despite other emerging market sovereigns paying up for their bonds over the past fortnight.

The Republic of Belarus has released initial price thoughts for a $600m 12 year bond after the country’s last deal, printed in June 2017, climbed 11 points since pricing.

The Republic of Belarus, which issued one of the best performing bonds of 2017, is looking to return with a 10 year dollar benchmark.

The Republic of Belarus is considering reopening its $600m 7.625% 2027s, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, after a strong rally that has made them the best performing hard currency bonds in CEEMEA in the last six months.

Belarusian food retailer Eurotorg’s $350m new issue traded up in the secondary market on Thursday morning, demonstrating the high appetite for rare corporate bonds from emerging markets.

Belarusian food retailer Eurotorg tightened price guidance on Wednesday for a $300m-$350m bond to 9.125%-9.25%. Syndicate officials away from the deal said that level was much wider than they expected for the note but a lead manager has launched a staunch defence of pricing.

This article is the fourth and final part of a series on China’s Belt and Road Initiative that we are publishing during the 2017 IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Washington DC. We have devoted two articles to the Road element, and two to the Belt element, of which this piece is the second and focuses on the western part of the overland route

Food retailer Eurotorg met investors this week to market the first ever international bond from a Belarusian corporate, but bankers were sceptical about whether there will be an influx of issuance from the former soviet state.

Recession and lingering sanctions concerns failed to prevent Belarus hammering down on price on its return to the dollar bond market after a six year absence.

Belarus returned to the eurobond market for the first time in more than six years on Thursday, releasing initial price thoughts for a dual-tranche dollar deal.

Belarus will hit the road next week for a dual tranche dollar offering, in what could be its first successful attempt to access the market since 2011. Its economy is expected to contract 0.5% in 2017.

Belarus will hit the road next week for a dual tranche dollar offering, in what could be its first successful attempt to access the market since 2011. Its economy is expected to contract 0.5% in 2017.

SME specialist Belarusky Narodny Bank (BNB) has signed $20m of loans from international lenders and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

As Belarus received a $500m credit line from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) this week, loans bankers said they are not leaping forward to arrange a loan for the sovereign. But Russian banks were still active in the country.

European Union ministers decided on Monday to permanently lift most sanctions on Belarus. But international banks remain wary of leading the country back to the Eurobond market.

Belarusbank has signed what it describes as the largest loan in Belarusian banking history for €245m, although the country’s wilted syndicated market means that Belarusbank was also the issuer that set that record.

Once the wild west of finance, emerging markets had dodginess and defaults aplenty. Now ethical investors want socially responsible investments. But if SRI criteria are too strict there will be nothing to buy, writes Steven Gilmore.

Belarusbank, the largest commercial bank in Belarus, has signed a €203m loan that one of its lenders said was the biggest ever in the Belarusian banking sector.

Russia’s DeltaCredit Bank has opened books on a Rb5bn ($151m) five year covered bond and is aiming to close the deal by Friday, said bankers on the deal.

Société Générale’s Russian subsidiary, DeltaCredit Bank, is expected to place notes of its recently priced covered bond on Tuesday, its treasury told The Cover. It is expected to return with further deals next year as the Russian fledgling covered bond framework continues to restrict local issuers to their domestic market.

The Russian mortgage market has grown quickly, lifting prospects for fledgling covered bond issuance. However, despite being Ucits eligible and in line with the European Covered Bond Council’s Label definition, the country’s legal framework is not yet aligned with western Europe’s.

In the midst of the global financial crisis, officials at the National Bank of Azerbaijan are making time to review a draft covered bond law for the South Caucasian country, in a sign of their commitment to a project that is aimed at stimulating its mortgage market.

Reduced bank funding options, a growing reliance on retail deposits, and a frozen secondary real estate market. Sound familiar? No, it’s not the US, but Kazakhstan. But while covered bonds are coming to the fore in the States and being taken up in CIS countries such as the Ukraine, the market’s direction in Kazakhstan is less clear.

When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s and US Treasury’s covered bond announcements came out, David Lucterhand, chief of party at Access to Credit Initiative (ATCI) in Kiev, reacted by writing to colleagues: “Finally, somebody understands what we’ve been talking about for years!”

The 12th Central European Covered Bond Conference took place last week, but while the event returned to Warsaw for the third time, it focused on several issues that have only recently come to the fore. The Cover discussed the highlights of the event with Otmar Stöcker, managing director of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks, co-host of the conference with Poland’s Mortgage Credit Foundation, which initiated the conference series.