Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

New sources of capital and new financing models are appearing for emerging markets borrowers as investors broaden the search for yield. As Mariam Meskin reports, traditional EM bank lenders and bond buyers now find themselves battling direct lenders and private capital markets

Since the global financial crisis, central banks have accumulated powers over regulation and supervision of markets as well as over monetary policy. In 2019 politicians began to erode that with interventions that have raised questions over who should control markets. By Phil Thornton

Investors gave the Turkish central bank’s 200bp rate cut a sanguine reaction on Thursday, but fund managers also noted that sentiment towards the country could change at any moment.

A ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, has been met with guarded scepticism by equity investors. Many remain unconvinced that a lasting solution to the dispute over East Ukraine is imminent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave some reassurance to Ukraine on Saturday, when one of its senior staff told president Volodymyr Zelensky that it has a support programme in place.

Ukraine is approaching a crucial moment in its financial history as a court decision nears on the future of one of its largest commercial banks that will determine the course of foreign investment in the country.

Russian steel maker Metalloinvest has raised its third syndicated loan of the year, according to bankers. The deal has a fixed rate.

UniCredit’s plan until 2023, revealed in London on Tuesday, involves rewarding shareholders with larger distributions on the back of a growth in revenue. The payment of these distributions will be given greater protection, thanks to the creation of a new intermediate holding company to lessen the bank’s regulatory capital burden. Meanwhile, chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier was clear that large M&A does not form part of the bank’s plans.

The chairman of UkraineInvest, a body set up to promote investment in the country, castigated the rating agency Moody’s on Monday over its cautious approach to upgrading the sovereign from a C rating, asking if the firm had an institutional bias against Ukraine.

The National Bank of Ukraine has accused Ihor Kolomoisky, former owner of Privatbank, of orchestrating a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation in an attempt to put pressure on the central bank, but international investors remain largely unfazed.

A number of untested European companies have made their entrance to the international high yield bond market in the past two weeks as central banks fuel conditions that pamper repeat and new issuers alike, while driving investors into ever riskier assets in a hunt for yield. Karoliina Liimatainen reports.

Aircraft leasing and aviation services company Avia Solutions Group became the latest debutant in the European high yield bond market on Tuesday. Central bank monetary policy has eased the path for a number of debuts in the last couple of weeks.