Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

The UK Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday recommended “closing the loophole” that allows Russia to continue to support its sanctioned banks and companies, by prohibiting persons in the EU from buying Russian debt where the bookrunner is a sanctioned entity.

Telecom Egypt has agreed credit lines totalling up to $900m, as Egyptian borrowers find a warm reception from lenders.

Russian oil company Gazprom has signed a €600m five year loan facility from Crédit Agricole, bringing its international borrowing tally above €1.3bn since it regained its investment grade status earlier this year.

Sometimes, investors get hit by political events that come out of nowhere. Other times, they walk straight into an oncoming freight train, even though it's blowing its horn at top volume.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent the country’s sovereign bond yields flying this week as he vowed to take more responsibility for monetary policy if he wins next month’s elections. His comments prompted another sharp dive in the value of the Turkish lira — felt strongly by the country’s dollar debt issuers — as investors feared that even if the central bank does hike rates to defend the currency, the measure could be soon reversed. Francesca Young and Mike Turner report.

Turkey’s Isbank has signed a $1.48bn-equivalent syndicated loan in line with the existing pricing benchmark for its compatriot peers, again showing that rating downgrades have little effect on loan borrowing rates for the country’s banking sector.

Equity and bond investors hoping for the Turkish central bank to step in and cool its overheating economy will be dismayed by President Erdogan’s pledge to influence its decisions. But they should not be surprised.

Loans bankers are keeping their cool over Turkey’s sharply deteriorating lending conditions, though borrowers in the country with a majority lira revenue and hard currency exposure have been warned that tough times are head.

Turkish discount grocer Şok Marketler got its IPO over the finish line at the top of its revised price range.

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, the State Development Bank of the Republic of Poland, is marketing a dual tranche euro bond.

The global pressure on emerging markets, triggered by a multitude of factors but most obviously a rapidly strengthening dollar, has been felt across the asset class. The most notable casualty in equities has been Turkey, which at the beginning of 2018 was expected to produce a bumper crop of IPOs this year.

The last two weeks have been the toughest in recent memory for emerging market bond investors who have seen their assets in local currencies and dollars alike take a hammering amid the collapse in the Argentine peso and Turkish lira.