CEE Bonds

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.

Gazprombank is still taking orders for its first Basel III compliant subordinated bond and has drawn in around $2bn so far, according to bankers away from the deal.

Armenia priced its debut Eurobond late last week from a book of $2.7bn and at a price that bankers away from the deal said offered investors good value. But despite a solid first day's trading on Friday, the bond slumped below re-offer in the secondary market on Monday.

Turkey has seized upon improving markets to push ahead with plans to issue a second dollar benchmark sukuk. The sovereign has picked banks and lined up roadshows next week in the Middle East and Asia.

Gazprom priced a £500m sterling bond on Wednesday and paid up only slightly compared to where it could have printed in dollars. A surge of demand surprised the leads, who shaved 50bp off pricing during execution and still ended up with almost 10 times the necessary demand. But bankers away from the deal said the steep spread revision pointed to sloppy execution.

Hungary has filed a registration statement with the SEC to issue up to $5bn in debt securities, and analysts are expecting the sovereign to take advantage of the chunky new programme before the end of the year.

Emerging market bond supply had an explosive end to the week thanks to the US Federal Reserve, which lit the fuse by delaying a reduction of its quantitative easing policy, to the surprise of many market participants. The move unleashed a surge of bond issuance across CEEMEA and Latin America, which bankers expect to be just the start of a race to take advantage of reduced funding costs, write Francesca Young and Steven Gilmore.

Armenia opened books on its first Eurobond on Thursday morning and set initial price thoughts at 6.375% area for a seven year bond, which offers fair value relative to Serbia and neighbouring Georgia, said analysts.

Gazprom priced a £500m sterling bond on Wednesday and paid up only slightly compared to where it could have printed in dollars. A surge of demand surprised the leads, who shaved 50bp off pricing during execution and still ended up with almost 10 times the necessary demand. But bankers away from the deal said the steep spread revision pointed to sloppy execution.