Poland

Poland cemented its position as one of CEE’s most nimble and savvy issuers on Tuesday by printing a 30 year euro deal — only the second ever from a non-Eurozone sovereign — in an opportunistic trade.

Polish banks will be anxious to follow PKO Bank Hipoteczny which on Monday enjoyed a superb reception for its euro benchmark covered bond — the first from the country. Bill Thornhill reports.

The CEEMEA bond market exploded into life this week in what will be one of the busiest of the year. Saudi Arabia is leading the action with its much-anticipated bond but Turkey made an impressive comeback with four of its banks in the market following Friday’s sovereign trade. Further supply from Poland, Russia, the Middle East and Africa is adding plenty of diversity for investors.

Poland cemented its position as one of EM’s most nimble and savvy issuers on Tuesday by printing a 30 year euro deal — only the second ever from a non-Eurozone sovereign — in an opportunistic trade.

Republic of Poland raised €500m with its longest ever syndicated bond as part of its push to extend the average duration of the country’s debt by taking advantage of low rates, as Slovenia made plans to reduce debt costs by buying back three of its dollar bonds.

The Polish national champion successfully issued its first euro denominated covered bond benchmark on Monday, and the first publicly syndicated deal ever issued by a Polish bank in the euro market.

Lenders are preparing the financing package for the $3.2bn leveraged buyout of Polish online retailer Allegro. A loan for the deal is likely to be mostly dollar denominated, bankers said.

Next week is likely to be one of the busiest in the fourth quarter in covered bonds, as a string of debut deals emerge, along with the first ever publicly syndicated euro benchmark from Poland.

Poland’s Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) is tapping the 10 year bond with which it made its debut earlier this year.

When Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded Poland from A- to BBB+ on January 15th, it was not just the Polish authorities that were astonished by the announcement. According to the Ministry of Finance’s website, which described the rating action as “incomprehensible”, a Reuters survey published the previous day suggested that fewer than one in three investors expected a downgrade. Among other agencies, this year Moody’s has revised its rating on Poland from stable to negative, while Fitch has left its stable rating unchanged

It is only a year since our last report in GlobalCapital was published, but so much has changed. Our country has opened a completely new chapter. Different ideas, opportunities, and challenges. Different standards that are set higher, targets that are more ambitious. And the world itself has changed substantially. Paradoxically, the world we are chasing appears to be rather fragile.

Piotr J Szpunar joined Poland’s central bank, Narodowy Bank Polski, in 1995 and became deputy head of the macroeconomics department in 2002. In 2007, he was appointed head of the financial system department, and he now serves as advisor to Adam Glapiński, who replaced Marek Belka as governor in June. In this interview with GlobalCapital’s Phil Moore, Szpunar shares his thoughts on the prospects for Poland’s economy and monetary policy, as well as on the outlook for the banking system.