Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey’s largest city, and VakifBank have both mandated banks to arrange dollar bond syndications. The trades come just days after the sovereign squeezed into the market before the US Thanksgiving holiday to raise a tightly priced dollar bond.

Bank lenders are hopeful that volumes across the typically active central and eastern Europe region will pick up, after what has been a disappointing year. This week Romanian meat processing company Carmistin Group raised a syndicated loan from a range of regional lenders, which is one of only five deals signed in the country this year.

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Turkish lender Garanti Bank has raised a syndicated loan, as the country’s top-tier banks continue securing funding at competitive rates.

Luminor Bank was more than 3-1/2 times subscribed on its return to the euro market on Wednesday, allowing it to demonstrate a year-on-year improvement in its senior funding costs.

Turkey raised a dollar bond on Tuesday, pricing $2.25bn of 10 year funding flat to its curve, demonstrating that investors believe it is recovering after a period of financial peril.

After a decade of slumber, the market for euro-denominated Hungarian covered bonds could be poised to reopen. Hungary covered bonds may have a low country ceiling credit rating but the market is well protected and could offer positive yields.

CEEMEA sovereign borrowers extended their last minute funding spree this week with Romania joining Ivory Coast in the primary bond market.

Less than a week after Turkey made a long desired increase in interest rates hike, the sovereign has returned to the bond market for a last gasp bond deal before the market starts to run down for the year. The situation is giving market insiders confidence that Turkey is returning to orthodox policy making.

Ozon, the Russian e-commerce company, completed its IPO on the Nasdaq on Tuesday having built a huge order book for the stock.

The Republic of Serbia this week raised a dollar bond in its second offering of the year, in what has been an exceptionally busy year for central and eastern European sovereign issuers.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey delivered a much anticipated interest rate hike on Thursday, fulfilling market watchers' hopes that the country will reform its way to economic recovery. A trip to the primary bond market for the sovereign could be imminent.