Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

The Republic of Bulgaria is fully funded for 2016 and the international bond it printed earlier this week will be its only one for the year, according to deputy minister of finance Karina Karaivanova.

Gazprom has set the spread on its first post-sanctions Swiss franc bond, a short dated note that is offering plenty of juice to yield starved private bank investors, according to bankers.

The right way to keep banks off the Russia deal is adding Russia to official US and EU sanctions lists. Having words with banks through back channels opens up a grey area ripe for misinterpretation. It’s only fair to everyone involved to sanction the sovereign or let it do the deal.

Bulgaria marked its capital markets coming of age on Monday after timing its first intraday execution of a Eurobond to perfection. The €1.994bn note left the country fully funded for the year.

TriOptima the over-the-counter post-trade service provider, has torn up more than $750tr in notional principal outstanding contracts since it launched its compression service for OTC derivatives in 2003, the firm said on Monday.

Bulgaria opened books on a dual tranche euro denominated note on Monday, becoming the first CEEMEA name to pounce on the post-European Central Bank (ECB) meeting relief rally.

In this round-up, Malaysia opens RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) applications, Macau launches a RMB real time gross settlement (RTGS) payment system, China Construction Bank (CCB) will join the new London silver fix, and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) reported a strong start to RMB currency futures trading in 2016. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.

CEE sovereigns rallied on Thursday in response to Mario Draghi’s plans to extend quantitative easing. But while some emerging markets bankers were hitting the phones to line up trades next week, others were less convinced that the news would have any impact on issuance.

Bulgarian Energy Holding has picked lead banks for its €650m loan, after taking six months and being downgraded during the arranging process.

Ukraine poultry producer, MHP has finally secured bondholder approval to amend its $750m notes due 2020, though bankers close to the deal said they knew it would be "rejected the first time."

KOKS Finance and Dubai Holding are looking to buy back part or all of their dollar notes due 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Holders of $750m of Ukrainian poultry producer, MHP’s debt have refused to accept amendments to the bond which would prevent a covenant breach.