CEE Bonds

Slovakia’s largest electricity distributor, Západoslovenská Energetika (ZSE), made its bond market debut this week with a dual tranche euro deal. The borrower originally intended to sell the bond over two days and turn to the private placement for additional funding. But a strong response from buyers provided faster than expected execution and allowed ZSE to take the full €630m it wanted from the public market.

Hungarian Development Bank priced its first ever dollar bond this week, printing a well received $750m seven year deal. The transaction offered a 110bp premium over the government curve, and as the Hungarian sovereign is holding off on issuance until next year the deal also offered buyers a valuable slice of sovereign risk.

Hungarian Development Bank opened books on a 144A dollar deal on Thursday morning, and approached investors with price thoughts for a seven year bond expected to be up to $500m.

FWU Group has closed the first $20m tranche of a $100m sukuk al wakala programme, with an oversubscribed order book.

The sukuk market returned to form this week, sweeping US shutdown concerns aside with two popular and tightly priced benchmark dollar deals.

Gazprom has mandated banks to arrange investor meetings in Switzerland ahead of what could be the issuer’s second ever trade in Swiss francs, returning to the market four years after its debut.

Turkey has given initial price thoughts of 325bp over mid-swaps area for its return to the international sukuk market.

The first ever bond backed by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has aroused keen interest across developing economies after shaving hundreds of basis points off pricing for Hungary’s Export-Import Bank, writes Steven Gilmore.

BRE Bank and African Bank both sold Swiss franc debt this week, heralding the return of triple-B credits to the currency after an absence of several months. BRE went first, making its debut in the Swiss franc market on Wednesday, appealing to retail investors and asset managers starved of high yielding paper.

BRE Bank made its debut in the Swiss franc market on Wednesday, appealing to retail investors and asset managers starved of high yielding paper in recent months. The Polish financial institution owned by Commerzbank sold Sfr200m of 2.5% five year notes.

Hungary’s Export Import Bank priced its long awaited €400m dual tranche deal on Tuesday afternoon, which benefits from a guarantee structure never before used in the bond market. It took two months of execution before investors were comfortable enough to participate, but the triple-A rating and tight pricing should result in large cost savings for the issuer.

Hungary’s Export Import Bank is aiming to price a €400m dual tranche bond on Tuesday afternoon – two months after starting execution. The bulk of the deal comes with a guarantee from the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which bankers on and off the deal said was to blame for the length of the bookbuild.