CEE Bonds

CEEMEA bankers are dusting off their Bloomberg terminals in preparation for a resurgence of new issue business next week. DCM and syndicate officials' most conservative estimate for the number of new CEEMEA issues that will be printed next week was three and the most bullish was seven.

Sberbank is roadshowing a tier two bond in the US and Europe from Monday to Wednesday next week and could become the first bank to try to issue under Russia’s updated Basel III framework for subordinated debt.

Kazakhstan based oil and gas company Nostrum Oil and Gas, formerly known as Zhaikmunai, will start a roadshow on Thursday for a dollar benchmark bond. The investor meetings are the first from a CEEMEA issuer since the sell-off in emerging market assets started on January 24.

Czech energy utility EP Energy attracted more than €1.5bn of orders last Friday for the first bond issued by its holding company, thanks to strong demand from traditional European high yield buyers.

Bulgaria has released a request for proposals to arrange a Eurobond, according to two DCM bankers in London.

Sberbank is roadshowing a tier two bond in the US and Europe from Monday to Wednesday and will try to issue under refined documentation language with regards to Russia’s Basel III framework for subordinated debt.

Emerging markets have overtaken eurozone sovereign debt problems and central bank stimulus withdrawal as the biggest threat to European credit markets, according to European credit investors in Fitch Ratings' quarterly survey. The report highlights how quickly the market view has changed on the emerging markets versus Europe, but bankers are saying it could just as easily switch back.

The EM primary bond market is still recoiling from the latest Federal Reserve quantitative easing tapering action, weakened emerging market currencies and the resulting sell-off in secondary bond market trading levels.

The resilience of Europe’s high yield bond market to recent financial volatility is likely to ensure continued investor demand for the asset class through this week, bankers said on Monday.

Russian Railways has set a nine year maturity for its euro-denominated bond. The company’s spreads have stabilised after the sell-off in EM assets last week and the issuer is monitoring the market for an opportunity to price this week, according to an origination official on the deal.

Sberbank Europe has hired Tamas Haiman as head of global markets. Haiman will start on February 3, based in Vienna reporting to Igor Strehl, member of the management board, Sberbank Europe, and Alexey Zaytsev, head of regional and international global markets management, global markets department at Sberbank CIB.

VTB Capital Investment Management has launched a $40m Russia & CIS debt fund in UCITS IV format. Domiciled in Luxembourg, an additional $20 million of soft commitments have already been pledged.