Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Theresa May stunned the UK on Tuesday by calling a snap general election, but equity capital markets remain calm and the next wave of IPOs is becoming more visible, with two more new deals announced this week.

Turkish bond prices were unmoved after the country's president, Recep Erdogan, scraped a narrow victory in Sunday’s constitutional referendum.

Russian fertiliser producer Phosagro will meet investors from Thursday for its first Eurobond since 2013.

Turkish food manufacturer Ülker has closed a $375m loan from 12 banks, marking the first corporate deal since the attempted military coup last year.

Poland’s largest covered bond issuer and national champion, PKO Bank Hipoteczny, has mandated leads to roadshow a prospective zloty-denominated covered bond benchmark.

Risk appetite propelled CEEMEA into a bullish second quarter with nearly $16bn of bonds printed in Easter week. Saudi Arabia led the charge with a $9bn sukuk, but demand for duration played into the hands of KazMunayGas which raised $1.25bn of 30 year debt.

A fresh IPO launch broke the quiet in the pre-Easter European equity capital market this week: and a very unusual one — the first Romanian flotation of the year. Digi Communications, a leading telecoms and media group, wants to float 25% of its equity in Bucharest.

Stellar funding conditions in emerging markets enabled Romania to print 10 and 18 year debt at record low yields on Monday.

Telenor, the Norwegian telecoms company, has sold a 4% stake in Veon, the Russian telco formerly called VimpelCom, for $262.5m through a block trade.

The Croatian government has followed up on its new law, designed to handle Agrokor’s debt crisis, by appointing an “emergency management commissioner” and overriding plans for the restructuring drawn up by creditors.

Romania was offering a 20bp new issue premium for both a new 10 year euro bond and a re-opening of its existing 2035s on Monday morning, according to a lead banker.

Representatives from Russia’s Ministry of Finance met with several investment banks in London last week, as the sovereign sought to persuade them to work on its next bond deal.