Russia

Last year was a record in terms of number of downgrades of emerging market sovereigns, with another four added this year — Turkey, Mozambique, El Salvador and Costa Rica. But Société Générale on Friday became the latest firm to criticise the ratings agencies for their pessimism.

PBoC opened the week with a near-300bp weakening of the dollar fix, while Rusal received the green light for its upcoming Panda bond deal, and the Shanghai-London Stock Connect is now one step closer to becoming reality.

Steel company Severstal played true to Russian borrower form on Thursday, printing its new 4.5 year bond well inside its existing curve, according to bankers.

Russian Railways is still on track to be the country’s first borrower of 2017 to complete a deal in the syndicated loan market, with bankers expecting to wrap up documentation soon. But Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) is leading a charge of big Russian pre-export finance facilities that look set to dwarf the unsecured market in the first half of the year.

Steel company Severstal, one of four Russian corporates rated above the sovereign, looked set to print below 4% on Thursday, tighter than guidance.

MD Medical Group, the Russian private hospitals group that specialises in paediatric and maternity care, will consider a share sale on the London Stock Exchange to partly finance the opening of 10 new medical facilities across Russia over the next three years.

Russian Railways will meet investors in London next week ahead of a potential return to both the dollar and Eurorouble bond markets.

Shares in Rusal, the largest aluminium producer in Russia, closed 3.9% lower in Hong Kong on Tuesday after Onexim, an investment vehicle controlled by Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the Brooklyn Nets, sold 3.3% of his stake in the company for HK$1.8bn ($240m), through an accelerated bookbuild launched on Monday night.

Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) is set to be the first in a run of Russian pre-export finance facilities, with bankers predicting as many as five big deals from borrowers in the first half of the year.

Metalloinvest, the Russian steel manufacturer, has extended the maturity of a revolving credit facility on better terms and boosted its size.

The Russian bond market revival continued this week as Alfa-Bank issued a rare eurorouble note and Severstal announced plans for a global roadshow.

Equity-linked bond issuance, lagging behind demand in Europe, showed a burst of vigour on Thursday with the launch of three deals, including substantial convertibles for Vinci and Severstal that were both eagerly received.