Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Poland’s mBank saw strong demand for a new euro-denominated four year senior unsecured benchmark after initial price thoughts were released early Wednesday.

Russian issuers dominated the first half of the week in emerging market bonds but the attention is now on Polish financial mBank which has braved coming on the same day as the US Federal Reserve announces its interest rate decision.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has penalised Russia’s VTB Bank and its London-based VTB Capital investment banking subsidiary over what the Commission called "fictitious" and "non-competitive" block trades of Russian ruble/US dollar futures contracts.

Russian Railways is to issue a Eurobond in roubles — the first time in over a year that an offshore rouble bond has been issued by a corporate borrower. The proceeds of the deal will be used to buy back outstanding dollar and Swiss franc bonds.

Debut issuer O1 Properties opened books on its five year dollar note on Tuesday with a yield of 8.5% area.

Otkritie has postponed its planned bond after failing to reach a pricing agreement with investors. The price sensitive issuer is continuing to monitor the market, bankers said on Tuesday.

Zagreb-headquartered food and drinks producer Agrokor launched a three year term loan into syndication this week. The deal is part of a wider refinancing exercise in which Agrokor has already secured €500m of short-term debt.

A surprise upgrade from S&P saw Hungary’s external debt rally 30bp over the weekend and, with the country set to enter crossover indices as an investment grade credit, further flows from passive investors are expected.

Nomura has added a Turkey specialist to its EM coverage team as it continues to build its EMEA emerging markets platform.

Russian commercial real estate investment company O1 Properties is targeting a five year bond following the completion of an investor roadshow on Friday, a banker at one of its leads said on Monday.

Turkey’s Isbank has signed its second annual syndicated loan for $1.04bn-equivalent. Like recent deals for the sector, Isbank’s loan includes a margin ratchet if the bank is downgraded.

Global Ports reopened the market for Russian issuers on Thursday with a seven year dollar deal that drew both plaudits and criticism from rival bankers.