Russia

Metalloinvest’s $750m loan was no picnic for lending banks — the Russian miner self-arranged the deal and pushed hard on pricing — but this tenacious deal will not encourage a run of Russian deals soon, according to bankers.

Commerzbank has added to its credit trading capabilities in London by hiring an experienced structured credit specialist.

A new narrative on Greece has emerged. Syriza, the country’s recently elected left-wing party, has for months been known across Europe and across capital markets exclusively for its anti-austerity views. Now, we are hearing something at once more surprising and more worrying: that Greece, under its new government, is beginning to side with Putin’s Russia.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the important parts of any financial conference typically take place off the stage rather than on it.

Russia's Siberian Coal Energy Co (Suek) might take its five year pre-export finance facility into general syndication after it closed at $1.5bn in senior syndication, with commitments of more than $2bn.

Russia's largest shipping company Sovcomflot has signed a $316m 10 year project finance facility from three lenders.

Russia’s DeltaCredit Bank has opened books on a Rb5bn ($151m) five year covered bond and is aiming to close the deal by Friday, said bankers on the deal.

Société Générale’s Russian subsidiary, DeltaCredit Bank, is expected to place notes of its recently priced covered bond on Tuesday, its treasury told The Cover. It is expected to return with further deals next year as the Russian fledgling covered bond framework continues to restrict local issuers to their domestic market.

The Russian mortgage market has grown quickly, lifting prospects for fledgling covered bond issuance. However, despite being Ucits eligible and in line with the European Covered Bond Council’s Label definition, the country’s legal framework is not yet aligned with western Europe’s.

In the midst of the global financial crisis, officials at the National Bank of Azerbaijan are making time to review a draft covered bond law for the South Caucasian country, in a sign of their commitment to a project that is aimed at stimulating its mortgage market.

Reduced bank funding options, a growing reliance on retail deposits, and a frozen secondary real estate market. Sound familiar? No, it’s not the US, but Kazakhstan. But while covered bonds are coming to the fore in the States and being taken up in CIS countries such as the Ukraine, the market’s direction in Kazakhstan is less clear.

When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s and US Treasury’s covered bond announcements came out, David Lucterhand, chief of party at Access to Credit Initiative (ATCI) in Kiev, reacted by writing to colleagues: “Finally, somebody understands what we’ve been talking about for years!”