Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Czech investment fund PPF is in the market to syndicate a €3.025bn loan to fund the acquisition of Norwegian telecoms group Telenor’s central eastern European business. The loan is split into two term loans and a revolving credit facility.

Romanian supermarket chain Profi is in talks with banks to add to its €305m loan, signed in March last year.

Three new Russian equity capital markets deals were launched this week, with bankers confident that European equity investors are comfortable enough to buy Russian risk despite diplomatic tensions between the country and the West growing more hostile.

Ukrainian steel and mining company Metinvest has released initial price guidance for its dual tranche bond, which is bring printed in conjunction with a tender offer for the company’s 2021s.

Cherkizovo Group, Russia’s largest meat producer, has launched a $300m-plus secondary public offering on the Moscow Exchange to boost liquidity in its stock and raise funds for acquisitions and debt repayment.

Turk Eximbank has signed a €544m loan, above its launch amount of €300m, to refinance debt and support its business backing exporters.

Czech investment fund PPF Group has kicked off the syndication of a €3.025bn loan, which was used to fund the acquisition of Norwegian telecoms group Telenor’s central and eastern European operations.

Barclays has made a series of hires in its emerging markets credit business.

Turkiye Is Bankasi (Isbank) recently signaled its intention to issue, while HSBC Canada has registered a covered bond corporate entity.

Russian borrowers seem to have no trouble accessing capital markets, despite sanctions and international condemnation for the Russian government's alleged poisoning of the spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Despite the lip service paid to the idea of responsible investment, most investors are not so choosy.

Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri, the largest mobile operator in Turkey, has mandated three banks to arrange a 10 year dollar bond.

Akbank has signed a $1.2bn loan to refinance a loan from last year and achieved tighter pricing than on the previous facility.