Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

In this week’s round-up, the Hong Kong Exchange’s USDCNH futures record their second best trading volume on Wednesday, renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increase by 4.1% in April, and China and Germany agree to co-operate on trade and finance.

Oil and gas company MOL became the first Hungarian issuer in the Schuldschein market this week. And, as the market expands further from Germany, there is no sign that credit quality will become less central to an issuer’s success.

Struggling Croatian food conglomerate Agrokor wants fresh financing from its biggest lender Sberbank, adding to its existing €1bn debt with the bank and said it is close to a new loan from other banks.

Intesa Sanpaolo has finally launched into general syndication a €5.2bn loan that it solely underwrote for the acquisition of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft by the Qatar Investment Authority and Glencore, after months of delay and reports that it might not happen.

Norilsk Nickel had taken a book of $1.4bn for its new April 2022 and looked to be on track to print with its lowest coupon ever as it makes use of the seemingly unstoppable bid for emerging market assets.

Latvia launched a €350m dual tranche tap of its 2026 and 2036 bonds on Thursday morning, its second visit to the international markets this year.

Tinkoff Bank is targeting a return to the Eurobond market after an absence of more than four years, following a pair of rating upgrades in recent months.

EM is back to work after the long weekend with Ivory Coast naming banks for its long awaited bond, and Norilsk Nickel and Tinkoff Bank from Russia, announcing their intention to issue new debt.

The Islamic arm of Turkey's Ziraat Bank has signed a $236m one year Murabaha syndicated loan with 13 banks, according to a banker on the deal.

Mavi Jeans, the Turkish maker of designer jeans, has published the prospectus for what could be the largest Istanbul IPO for four years, according to Dealogic.

Romania-focused Globalworth Real Estate Investment is due to meet investors for a potential euro denominated trade, in a period of narrow issuance windows due to a spate of public holidays.

Turkish legislation has been in place for years and six borrowers have set up covered bond programmes, but so far supply has proved fleeting. Nevertheless, delegates at the CEE Covered Bond Forum in London heard this week that the challenges that held the market back are likely to disappear soon.