Page 58 - UKRRptDec19

Bond issuers from Eastern Europe were active in October with 18 bonds
issued worth a total of $4.5bn of which two thirds of the value and 14 out
of the 18 were Russian bonds, according to data provided by​ ​CBonds​.
The issues from Central Europe were more subdued with a total of 6 issues worth collectively $2.2bn, less than half of the eight issues that raised a total of $5.9bn in the same month a year earlier and a similar amount that was raised in October 2017.
By contrast bond issues from the CIS were considerable more active this year than in the previous two years. The total of $4.5bn raise this October was double the $2.2bn raise a year earlier and five times more than the $876mn raise in October 2017.
Cumulatively issuers from the CIS have issued a total of $27.8bn over the first ten months of this year, which is already more than the $24bn that was raise in all of 2018, but well down on the $44.3bn raised in all of 2017 – a vintage year where the lion’s share of bonds were issued in the first half of 2017.
This year March and June were particularly strong months for bond issues, but September and October have proven to be equally strong accounting for 18.8% and 16.1% of all the issues YTD. March was the very strongest month accounting for just under a quarter (24.3%) of all the bonds issued in the CIS YTD.
From the non-Russian bonds on offer in October most came from Ukraine with leading metallurgical company​ Metinvest​ issuing a $500mn with a yield of 7.75% that matures in 2029 as part of its​ debt restructuring programme​.
Next month’s round up will also include more large Ukrainian issues as its leading companies are taking advantage of the economic recovery and improving macroeconomic fundamentals that have improved sentiment to issue bonds for their investment programmes. Ukraine's natural gas monopoly Naftogaz also raised $500mn​ via a seven-year Eurobond at the start of November and other big state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are expected to come to market in the coming year.
But as usual the Russian issuers accounted for the largest part of October’s Eurobond issues. Russians have issued a total of $19.6bn over the first ten months of this year, which is already more than the $13.1bn raised in all of 2018 but behind the $27.3bn raised in all of 2017 – the banner bond year.
In Russia’s case March was an even more active month than in all the CIS accounting for just under a third (31.1%) of all issues, while June, September and October were all active months accounting for around 15% each of the total bonds issues YTD.
The issuers are an assortment of leading Russian bluechips from banking, telecoms and metal and mining, who were raising cash for their capex programmes.
58​ UKRAINE Country Report​ December 201 ​ ​www.intellinews.com