Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Investors responded to the news that the International Monetary Fund will likely delay a $1.9bn tranche of its bailout for Ukraine by saying the country has no chance of issuing a bond until the payment clears.

Activity in the CEEMEA primary market is likely to be loaded towards the back end of this week, according to bankers, as roadshows end and issuers dodge around macroeconomic events and holidays in the US.

Hungarian haulage firm Waberer’s International priced its Huf22.6bn (€73.1m) IPO today after slashing the amount of secondary shares on account of tepid demand, though the bookrunners said the outcome was favourable in the end.

Raiffeisen Bank Polska’s IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which kicked off on Thursday to raise up to Z947.8m (€224m), is expected to be a mainly local affair, said bankers close to the deal.

Russian steel and mining company Evraz has dumped plans to raise $500m through a pre-export finance facility (PXF) and decided instead to tap into local bank funds with more attractive terms.

Polish utility company Tauron Polska Energia moved pricing 17bp on Wednesday to raise €500m with a 10 year note, despite a large sell-off in Bunds on Tuesday.

Sanctions on Russia could be tightened following a bill that passed the US Senate nearly unanimously in mid-June, but even though some commentators are sceptical that they will be implemented, VTB head of global banking Riccardo Orcel said that it won't stop the Russian state-controlled bank’s expansion into new markets.

Strong support from IG accounts had enabled Polish utility company Tauron Polska Energia to tighten guidance to 165bp, plus or minus 2bp, for its windy but not green 10 year note on Tuesday morning.

Russia’s EuroChem once again appeared to prove on Monday that it can squeeze bond investors for every last basis point and get away with it, but one of the bookrunners ended up owning up to half of the deal.

For emerging market bond investors, every crisis is an opportunity as inflows into the asset class continue to compress yields. Russia, commodity exporters and Mozambique are in focus this week.

Aluminium giant Rusal hit the limelight in March when it became the first Russian corporate to issue a Panda bond. But Oleg Mukhamedshin, deputy chief executive, told GlobalRMB that high onshore yields are delaying the company’s return to the Panda market.

EuroChem had taken books of $1.2bn by lunchtime on Tuesday after opening books on a four year trade a week after finishing its roadshow. Falling oil prices and a Russia sovereign trade last week meant the issuer decided to wait for a firmer market before launching its deal.