CEE Bonds

Severstal, a Russian steel manufacturer, hit screens on Monday morning with a five year dollar benchmark.

The price of Ukraine’s GDP warrants climbed rapidly this week on news of a “definite plan” to minimise the instruments’ impact on the country’s debt burden.

Two Russian steel companies have announced mandates and roadshows this week and look set to become the first corporates from the country to test the bond market since the latest round of US sanctions on their country in early August.

The price of Ukraine’s GDP warrants climbed rapidly this week on news of a “definite plan” to minimise the instruments’ impact on the country’s debt burden.

Russian pipe manufacturer Chelyabinsk Pipe Plant has become the second metals company from the country to announce plans for a roadshow this week, joining Severstal. The Chelpipe deal — a $300m Reg S/144A five year senior unsecured note — will be the company's debut in the Eurobond market.

Two CEEMEA issuers — one of which is a Russian corporate — have mandated for bonds and are heading off on roadshows, ending a barren summer for the asset class.

Standard & Poor's has affirmed Romania's investment grade rating, at BBB- with a stable outlook. The central European sovereign escaped a downgrade to junk status, but bond auctions this week will determine appetite for the credit.

Standard & Poor’s is due to opine on Romania’s creditworthiness after markets close on Friday, though analysts think the sovereign will be strong enough to hold on to its investment grade rating despite major political upheaval.

Poland’s prefunding for 2020 may even be higher as a proportion of total funding than the 34% it reached for 2019, said Robert Zima, head of the debt management office (DMO) in Warsaw, thanks to an expected lower budget deficit which means that the country’s total borrowing requirements are set to fall.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Deutsche Bank of hiring relatives of executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the Asia Pacific and Russia, in order to win business from those entities.

International investors are divided over whether to put more money to work in the Russian domestic bond market after the latest round of US sanctions against the Russian sovereign.

Sanctions on a country’s sovereign debt do not typically herald a windfall of fee-earning bond market business in that country, but Russia may prove an exception. If the sovereign distorts prices in the domestic market, Russian corporates and banks may look to the international market to borrow instead.