Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Having issued twice in the Eurobond markets last month, Russia's Gazprom has turned its attentions to the loan market with an €800m four year deal.

Poland raised €750m from its debut green bond on Monday which was allocated 61% to green accounts. The sovereign claimed that it was able to print flat to inside where a new conventional bond would have come, setting a strong precedent for future sovereign green issues.

Republic of Poland has opened books on its debut green bond, marketing the deal with a “sensible” a 20bp-25bp premium, according to emerging market bankers.

CEE insurer Eurohold Bulgaria has opened books on a five year Eurobond at low to mid 8%. The unrated issuer is expected to print as early as this week.

Vladimir Lisin, the Russian billionaire, has sold a 1.5% stake in Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), the Russian steel producer he controls, for $156m, through an accelerated bookbuild launched on Thursday night.

UniCredit turned to the equity-linked bond market on Thursday to dispose of its last 7.4% stake in Bank Pekao, after agreeing to sell 32.8% of the Polish lender to insurance company Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń and the Polish Development Fund, for Z10.6bn (€2.4bn).

In this round-up, China saw another sizeable drop to its foreign exchange reserves in November, the Shenzhen Connect saw subdued trading activity in its first four days, and Egypt signed its first currency swap line with China. Plus, a recap of our coverage this week.

Poland’s plans to issue the first ever sovereign green bond surprised supporters and sceptics alike this week. Climate finance experts are hopeful that the deal marks a major shift in Polish policy to a greener future after the government initially resisted ratifying the UN’s Paris Agreement, writes Virginia Furness.

Plans for a loan to fund the €10.5bn purchase of a 19.5% stake in Russian oil company Rosneft by a consortium of Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority, announced on Thursday, have left loans bankers in Europe baffled. It is not clear whether it will be syndicated or supplied by only one lender, and there are suggestions that domestic Russian lenders could provide the funding.

The identity of the bank arranging a loan to fund the privatisation of Russian oil company Rosneft has loans bankers in Europe baffled, which suggests domestic lenders will provide the funding.

The long saga of Rosneft’s privatisation ended on Wednesday evening with a surprise announcement by the Russian government of the sale of a 19.5% stake in the oil giant to Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Green bonds have been a hot topic for several years now, but sovereign issuers have been slow to step up to the plate. Until now. Poland is on the road for a euro-denominated green bond and is meeting investors in London this week.