Turkey

Yapi Kredi reopened the Turkish financial bond market on Tuesday, garnering a $1.2bn book that was sticky enough to allow the issuer to tighten pricing 37.5bp — good news for the $3.7bn worth of Turkish financial senior bonds that will need refinancing this year.

This week has seen the reopening of sovereign bonds from the Gulf region and Turkish bank debt, with Bahrain and Yapi Kredi both printing successful trades on Tuesday.

Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi is the first of the Turkish banks to follow a successful sovereign tap last week, and with Turkish bank debt well bid in secondaries, it will be expecting a better result than its last senior trade.

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.

Turkey made an opportunistic move on Thursday to reopen its recent 10 year bond for another $1bn. The $4.7bn book size showed there is no let-up in demand for Turkish sovereign debt.

Turkey has made an opportunistic move to reopen its recent 10 year bond with a tap to raise an expected $1bn.

Export Credit Bank of Turkey has followed Turkish peer Akbank into the loan market, launching the first of its semi-annual one year refinancings.

Albaraka Turk received a boost to its capital after investors voted to update its old-style tier two sukuk as Fitch junked 18 Turkish banks on Friday.

Akbank made a bullish return to the international syndicated loan market this week, going beyond its usual one year tenor refinancing, despite the recent difficulties Turkish borrowers have faced in obtaining longer dated loans. But the deal confirms that pricing levels have changed markedly in the past six months, said bankers.

Akbank has made a bullish return to the international syndicated loan market, going beyond its usual one year tenor refinancing, despite the difficulties Turkish borrowers have had recently in obtaining longer dated loans. But the deal confirms that pricing levels have changed markedly in the past six months, said bankers.

Turkey found itself firmly in junk territory on Friday after it lost its last investment grade rating from Fitch, but the issuer’s CDS has tightened in response and as Turkey’s blowout trade on January 18 attests, it always has the capability to fund.

Rating downgrades on Friday for Turkey sovereign debt have not dented the appetite of the country’s banks to borrow, with two firms said to be joining Akbank in pursuing loans.