CEE Bonds

Ukraine’s political establishment was shaken up and, in large part, replaced by newcomers early in 2019. The lead up to the election was fraught, as investors’ fear of the unknown drove up Ukrainian rates. But President Zelensky swiftly won over the international community, setting up a superb run of borrowing.

Turkey’s position economically, and from a capital markets standpoint, is better at the end of 2019 than it was a year ago. However, that is not to say all is well with the country — far from it. Prospects for 2020 are, at best, mixed with growing concerns over central bank independence and high debt levels

Investors gave the Turkish central bank’s 200bp rate cut a sanguine reaction on Thursday, but fund managers also noted that sentiment towards the country could change at any moment.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave some reassurance to Ukraine on Saturday, when one of its senior staff told president Volodymyr Zelensky that it has a support programme in place.

Ukraine is approaching a crucial moment in its financial history as a court decision nears on the future of one of its largest commercial banks that will determine the course of foreign investment in the country.

The chairman of UkraineInvest, a body set up to promote investment in the country, castigated the rating agency Moody’s on Monday over its cautious approach to upgrading the sovereign from a C rating, asking if the firm had an institutional bias against Ukraine.

The National Bank of Ukraine has accused Ihor Kolomoisky, former owner of Privatbank, of orchestrating a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation in an attempt to put pressure on the central bank, but international investors remain largely unfazed.

A number of untested European companies have made their entrance to the international high yield bond market in the past two weeks as central banks fuel conditions that pamper repeat and new issuers alike, while driving investors into ever riskier assets in a hunt for yield. Karoliina Liimatainen reports.

Investors showered a debut dollar deal from Uzpromstroybank with orders on Monday, with the order book for the $300m bond peaking at $1.2bn. But despite the success for the privatisation candidate, government officials are hoping that future Uzbek bond issuance will favour local currencies.

Uzpromstroybank, the BB-/BB- rated bank that is majority owned by the Uzbek government, had racked up more than $800m of orders by lunchtime on Monday for its five year dollar bond.

Armenian bank Ardshinbank has postponed a RegS/144A five year dollar loan participation note after a week on the road.

The International Finance Corporation returned to the Czech koruna bond market after a 21 year absence this week to place the largest SSA deal in the currency since 2015.