Russia

Russia’s Renaissance Capital has hired Petr Molchanov as head of investment banking for its home market.

Shareholders in Russia’s United Co Rusal raised HK$2.5bn ($320.3m) through an overnight bookbuild, following a rally in the stock as its parent EN+ Group is seeking a $1.5bn IPO.

One of the most widely anticipated IPOs in the EMEA region got going on Thursday when EN+ Group, the Russian power and metals business controlled by Oleg Deripaska, said it would sell up to $1.5bn worth of global depositary receipts in London and Moscow in November.

Credit Bank of Moscow this week revealed plans to buy back chunks of its outstanding Eurobonds as fears of further bail-outs kept Russian subordinated bank paper under pressure.

Russia tapped its dollar denominated June 2027 and 2047 bonds on Wednesday, with a lead saying that many names new to the sovereign had bought into the debt reopening.

The strength of the demand for equity block trades in Europe was highlighted once again on Wednesday evening by Telenor when it covered an effective cleanup trade in Veon, the New York-listed Russian telecoms company formerly known as VimpleCom, in half an hour.

Another elusive name was traded in the equity blocks market on Tuesday night, when Aeroflot Russian Airlines, Russia’s national carrier, came to market to sell 53.7m treasury shares worth Rb9.8bn ($169m).

Trade between Russia and China has slowed over the last few years, hurt by a depreciating renminbi and domestic economic challenges in both countries. But the trend has now largely reversed — and dealmaking between the two countries is booming.

Venezuela replaces the dollar with the renminbi as the quoting currency for its oil exports, the People’s Bank of China says bankers are confident about the Chinese economy, and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect sets a new record in turnover volume.

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has added Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) to its list of systemically important banks (SIBs) this week, prompting a 2.5 cash point rally in the issuer’s subordinated bonds.

The Swiss bond market welcomed Russian Railways back to the market after a five year absence this week.

Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) was making prudent use of lower funding costs on Thursday to buy back its more expensive outstanding dollar debt.