Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

The outlook for Turkish IPOs is bleak after the country’s president, Recep Erdoğan, appointed a new cabinet which included his son-in-law as new finance minister.

Turkey’s Akbank will not refinance its one year loan signed last August until September, as that corresponds to when the borrower drew down on the facility, a source close to the bank said.

Turkish banks are running late on their syndicated loan refinancing timetables amid political noise in the country, and loans bankers say it will soon be too late for the banks to rollover the deals and will instead have to take the unusual step of repaying the debt.

The news that Russia intends to plough ahead with its plans for funding in the international capital markets was greeted with some initial disbelief. At first glance, the international environment does not look good for a Russia return. But look again, and there is little reason to believe that demand for a Russian sovereign new issue would be anything but enthusiastic.

Turkey’s president Recep Erdoğan delivered a shock to investors on Monday, announcing a cabinet reshuffle in which he removed market favourites Mehmet Simsek, who was deputy prime minister, and Naci Agbal, minister of finance. He appointed his son-in-law Berat Albayrak, who previously served as energy minister, as finance minister.

The Russian Ministry of Finance has released its borrowing plans for the next three years, starting with a plan to borrow Rb1.48tr ($24bn) in 2019. Though the plan, which includes continuing to raise money internationally, is being seen as brazen, bankers in London said that there will be appetite.

Turkish banks have enough foreign currency liquidity to withstand a prolonged capital market shut out, according to ING. While this remains unlikely, small signs of deterioration have begun to show in terms for the biggest source of FX funding in the country’s banking system - syndicated loans.

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Corporate bond issuance from central and eastern Europe, excluding Russia, is up nearly 30% year on year as borrowers move early to lock in low coupons before the European Central Bank stops buying bonds and starts raising interest rates.

Lietuvos Energija on Tuesday made full use of its green credentials to price a €300m bond with a much smaller new issue concession than has been seen on the majority of recent new issues.

Lietuvos Energija, a quasi-sovereign utility company that is fully owned by the government of Lithuania, was on track this week to price its second green bond. The deal will also mark the first trade from central and eastern Europe in over two weeks and offers an over 100bp pick up over the sovereign.

The Republic of Srpska, an autonomous entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has printed its five year Eurobond, but the final size fell short of the hoped for €200m.