Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Ukraine has released initial price guidance for a euro deal that the country has been waiting to print since before Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential victory in April.

The Republic of Croatia launched its €1.5bn 10 year bond on Wednesday afternoon in London from a book of €6.4bn at a level 7bp inside of fair value, according to a lead manager on the note.

TBC Bank, Georgia’s largest bank by assets, loans and deposits, has set the size for its debut dollar bond at $300m and order books for the deal are already well over that amount.

OP Corporate Bank offered sold a senior non-preferred bond in euros on Wednesday, the whose success of which surprised market participants with its pricing and demand of more than three times the deal size. Oberbank also went to market with a senior preferred bond that did not attract as much demand.

GeoProMining printed its $200m five year bond on Wednesday and a banker on the deal said the success of the note was a further sign of how much more comfortable investors have grown with Russia credit.

The Republic of Lithuania has set spreads on its 10 year and 30 year euro bonds having crunched 10bp from initial guidance.

If the date of one major capital markets event in Russia is anything to go by, the locals have given up on attracting US investors all together.

BAWAG, SP Mortgage Bank and Tatra banka have all set their sights on the euro covered bond market, mandating for deals across the maturity spectrum.

Oberbank sold a senior bond in euros on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of NatWest Markets, Luminor Bank and Svenska Handelsbanken, which on Tuesday also issued senior deals. NatWest attracted the largest order book for its floating rate notes.

The CEEMEA region is lining up one of its busiest fortnights of the year for bond issuance as Black Sea Trade and Development Bank and the Republics of Serbia, Croatia and Lithuania join a swathe of EM issuers already on the road. JP Morgan looks to be solidifying its position at the top of the CEEMEA league tables — it has been picked for every one of the deals mandated on Tuesday.

Ukraine has mandated banks for a seven year euro-denominated benchmark bond, with the sovereign due to meet investors after a sharp rally in its bonds.

In this round-up, US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin called the talk with Chinese central bank governor Yi Gang ‘candid’ on Twitter, the Mainland warned domestic tourists and students against planning trips to the US, and both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered predictions for Chinese GDP growth thanks to trade tensions.