CEE Bonds

With the shock of the latest round of Russian sanctions receding a little, EM investors are already seeking out the opportunities that last week’s volatility created. Even one holder of the sanctioned and problematic Rusal debt said he has increased his exposure to Sberbank.

Turkish real estate developer Ronesans Gayrimenkul Yatirim has released initial price guidance on its benchmark five year bond, which a rival syndicate has called wide but a lead said was the pick-up investors are demanding over Turkish international corporates.

EPIF Infrastructure, has released initial price guidance for a six year fixed rate euro benchmark.

Turkish real estate developer Ronesans Gayrimenkul Yatirim is still assessing investor feedback and is yet to release initial price guidance, despite having told the market that it was looking to price its bond “as early as” Wednesday.

Kazmunaygas’ (KMG) $3.25bn bond on Tuesday proved to be a beneficiary of the latest round of US sanctions against Russia sanctions, as investors sought a new oil play away from the volatility surrounding assets from the proscribed state.

The US Treasury’s targeting of Rusal in its latest round of sanctions was far from the random hit that investors are claiming. The US has demonstrated its power over the dollar-based financial system — and it has no need to do further damage.

Kazakhstan’s national oil company Kazmunaygas, rated Baa3/BB-/BBB-, has released initial price guidance for its dollar senior unsecured triple tranche 2025, 2030 and 2048 issue.

Turkish real estate developer Ronesans Gayrimenkul Yatirim has set the tenor on its benchmark dollar bond at five years, and is expecting to print the note “as early as tomorrow”.

The Republic of Turkey nipped into the market on Monday afternoon to raise $2bn with an SEC registered bond, just days before presidential and parliamentary elections were called. While one EM investor called the issuing strategy unusual, a rival banker said it was a classic case of Turkish opportunism, adding that the higher yield paid is the reality of the market now.

Some EM fund managers and fixed income analysts are already in discussions over whether investors stuck holding Rusal bonds may be able, with the issuer’s help, to create a workaround that would allow the company to stay current on its debt obligations.

With little clarity on the full scope of the new round of sanctions on Russia from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC), service providers have been quick to cut ties with the seven sanctioned oligarchs and their related entities for risk of violating new rules on facilitating business with designated individuals or entities.

The decision by the US Treasury last week to designate a number of Russian oligarchs and companies as sanctioned entities, in an effort to curb the country’s “worldwide malign activity”, has transformed investor sentiment and led to buyers fleeing Russia across debt and equities, write Sam Kerr and Francesca Young.