Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Three new issues from Polyus Gold, Rusal and Alfa-Bank were trading below reoffer, with investors blaming the aggressive pricing strategies of Russian issuers, rather than concerns about the US Treasury recommendations due on Monday.

Russian corporates have been quick off the mark in the bond market this year with two more following fertilizer company PhosAgro into bonds this week.

Equity investors seem to be shrugging off the geopolitical tension surrounding Turkey, which is fortunate for a pipeline of Turkish IPOs, but there are risks if relations with the US worsen further, writes Sam Kerr.

United Company Rusal has released price guidance for its Reg S/144A five year benchmark bond.

Russia’s Alfa-Bank achieved a sub 7% print to raise $500m with the first additional tier one from the country this year.

Polyus Gold, Russia’s largest gold producer, printed its $500m six year bond on Wednesday from a book of $2bn and flat to where lead managers said they saw fair value.

United Company Rusal has added an extra bank to its bond mandate ahead of pricing for the Reg S/144A dollar deal, which is expected on Thursday.

Polyus Gold, Russia’s largest gold producer, has released price guidance for a six year benchmark bond and books for the deal are already over $1.1bn.

Turkey’s Vakifbank was able to increase the size of its deal on Tuesday to $650m after strong demand propelled the book to over $1.7bn, as funding costs return to levels seen before the fourth quarter of 2017.

Options volumes were up 11% in exchanges around the world last year, while futures were down 6.6%, according to new data unveiled by the Futures Industry Association.

Emerging markets are coming to the fore in equity capital markets this year, fulfilling predictions of a good year for ECM issuance from more challenging markets.

New emerging markets bond issues are starting to trickle after a slow start to the week. Political events in the US, as well as Turkey’s military campaign in Syria have proved an unhelpful distraction, though overall the markets remain in good shape.