Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank has sold the first bond from its EMTN programme after responding to demand for its name in Romanian leu.

Banks on Tuesday settled credit default swaps referencing the Republic of Ukraine at 80.625, the highest recovery on a sovereign credit event auction since they began in 2005.

Norilsk Nickel opened books on a seven year benchmark bond on Tuesday morning, which should help answer a key question on the minds of bankers and prospective borrowers — just what do Russian corporates have to pay to come to market?

A credit event auction on Tuesday for swaps referencing the Republic of Ukraine will be the fastest that has ever been put together in the history of the derivatives contract, lawyers have said.

Plans by the European Central Bank to trial the use of reverse auctions in its public sector purchase programme have been tentatively welcomed by SSA issuers on the central bank’s buying list.

In this round-up, Hong Kong and Taiwan RMB deposits shrink slightly while RMB cross-border trade settlement surges to new records in both Hong Kong and China, the RQFII programme reaches Rmb410bn ($80bn), Georgia and Kyrgyzstan work on establishing RMB swap lines with China, and Nanning authorities plan a new China-ASEAN currency index.

Gazprom may issue a euro denominated note next week, the first corporate new issue from Russia in 2015. But although it is viewed as a positive sign for the market, it won't necessarily herald a wider market re-opener for the country.

Gazprom has released roadshow dates for a euro bond, but is going ahead with the meetings without Deutsche Bank on the mandate.

Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest has been notified that holders of in excess of 50% of the outstanding principal amount across its $85.2m 10.25% 2016s, $289.7m 10.5% 2017s and $750m 8.85% 2018s have formed an ad hoc committee.

An evolution is happening in emerging market issuers’ use of yen funding. For many years, many of them have only been able to issue Samurai bonds by using JBIC’s GATE (Guarantee and Acquisition toward Tokyo market Enhancement) programme, but steadily more of them are stepping up to standalone issuance. At the same time, benchmark borrowers are bringing along less established issuers from the same countries in their wake

Polish banks showed their deep pockets by signing a record Z12.5bn (€3bn) loan for television company Cyfrowy Polsat this week. But banks could face a tax which might reduce their capital by a third.

The Ukrainian government has released the exchange offer for its sovereign Eurobonds, amended from what was previously announced.