Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

The Republic of Estonia has mandated for a 10 year benchmark bond, as it prepares for its first foray into bond markets since 2002.

Ukrainian and IMF officials have come to a preliminary agreement to provide the country with $5bn of aid after president Volodymyr Zelensky signed much-anticipated banking legislation into law. Market watchers have now urged the country to come to the bond market before the situation has a chance to sour.

A Pln700m ($168.9m) selldown of stock in Play Communications, the Polish telecommunications company, has shown that investor appetite towards some emerging market stocks is still alive, despite the asset class being hit hard during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Credit Suisse’s plan to launch a private credit opportunities fund has been undermined by a spying scandal, the departure of Jim Amine, and Covid-19, writes David Rothnie.

Nick Darrant, JP Morgan's head of CEEMEA debt capital markets syndicate, is leaving the bank after five years to join Citigroup as co-head of EMEA syndicate.

İşbank, Turkey's largest private bank by assets, is the latest financial institution from the country to refinance its existing debt, while managing to maintain competitive margins.

After a week of speculation over which central banks would provide Turkey with a currency swap line, its central bank has announced an increase to an existing arrangement.

LHV Pank has mandated leads for its inaugural deal and the second ever to be launched under the newly established Estonian covered bond legal framework.

Turkey’s Garanti Bank has raised a $592.4m-equivalent ESG-linked syndicated loan — the first of its kind signed by a bank. The deal, despite being launched at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, went successfully, according to bankers, following a string of refinancings by other Turkish banks.

Yapi Kredi is the latest Turkish bank to refinance existing debt, following peers like Akbank and VakifBank. But bankers said that margins on its deal do not reflect current market conditions.

Emerging market borrowers are turning their noses up at the terms on offer in the loan market, which have become dearer during the coronavirus pandemic. Lenders say they are willing and ready to lend, but are not ready to concede on their terms, writes Mariam Meskin.

Ukraine’s politicians have finally passed a banking law that will put the country in line for a support package from the International Monetary Fund.