Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Bankers hope 2017 will prove a more vibrant year for Russian IPOs, after the country's stockmarket was one of Europe's best performers last year and Western investors are thawing towards it.

CEE borrowers were upbeat at Euromoney’s Central and Eastern European Forum 2017 in Vienna this week, with several sovereigns revealing funding plans for the year.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has invested in its first Slovak covered bond and is working with local regulators to update the local covered bond law.

Typically an early mover in the race to fund, Turkey raised $2bn on Wednesday with an SEC-registered note maturing March 2027, a third of the total $6bn it plans to raise this year. But the sovereign has plenty of hurdles ahead, writes Virginia Furness.

Russian corporate bond issuance for 2017 looks set to begin with Rusal, the world’s second largest commodity producer, which has gone through multiple debt restructurings.

Kernel Holding has hired two international banks to work on a bond offering, the first corporate new issue from Ukraine since 2013.

The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) is to introduce a weekly expiry of options on the Russian Trading System (RTS) stock index.

The Republic of Turkey has surprised market participants by opening books on a 10 year dollar benchmark — but the 40bp-45bp new issue premium at the starting point hints at the elevated price investors will be demanding for Turkish risk.

Slovenia reopened the bond market for central and eastern European issuers in style on Tuesday with a well received dual tranche euro deal.

Agrokor, a Croatian retail, food and agriculture company, has abandoned its syndication of a three year term loan complaining of unfavourable terms.

DCM bankers will be hoping that central and eastern European issuers gathered in Vienna this week will have taken Slovenia’s Eurobond success as a sign that for CEE borrowers, the funding market is well and truly open once more.

The thaw in Western equity investors' and banks' sentiment towards Russia continued this week as Detsky Mir, the toy retailer, announced plans for the first Russian IPO of 2017, to be led by an array of bulge bracket investment banks.