Russia

RusHydro, the Russian hydroelectricity firm, has filed for a Rb13bn capital raising in order to fund the construction of overhead power lines.

Russia’s Polymetal has signed a $250m five year loan from a domestic lender, though the metals and mining company expects its leverage ratio to tick down by the end of the year.

Kirill Dikijs, formerly of BNP Paribas, has started in his new emerging markets DCM role.

Sberbank is merging its corporate banking and Sberbank CIB divisions and plans to complete the integration by the end of 2018, with deputy chairman Anatoly Popov heading the combined entity.

Russia’s Mechel has signed a $1bn-equivalent loan facility, as the metals and mining group pushes ahead with plans to restructure its debt portfolio by the end of 2018.

New US sanctions announcements on Russia, chatter around new IMF financing for Angola and a desperate economic recovery plan in Venezuela are keeping those emerging market portfolio managers still at their desks busy. But low volumes are playing havoc with EM secondary levels as traders embrace the quietest trading week of the summer.

MegaFon has secured Rb15bn ($222m) in loans from Gazprombank, as Russia’s second largest phone company builds a financial war chest to become the country’s latest company to delist from the London Stock Exchange.

The US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has an unprecedented decision to make on whether to accept a reported offer from EN+ owner Oleg Deripaska to sell shares in the company to VTB Bank. The aim of the deal is to reduce the oligarch’s majority stake in the aluminium conglomerate, which, it is hoped, will result in sanctions against it being removed.

Gazprom may have stepped away from the international capital markets but its liquidity position remains strong enough to keep it afloat for the foreseeable future, provided the diplomatic situation between Russia and the US does not worsen.

A pair of US sanctions against Russia could have potentially disastrous consequences for local and international bond investors, especially if a planned ban against the purchase of new sovereign debt takes effect, writes Lewis McLellan.

Russian petrochemicals company Sibur is not close to making a decision on whether to go public, despite media reports in the last fortnight to the contrary, its CFO told GlobalCapital.

Hopes rose this week of a revival for Russia’s equity capital markets when the US Treasury extended a key sanctions licence until October, allowing aluminium conglomerate EN+ to continue with a plan that would remove sanctions on the company.