A window has opened in the sterling bond market for borrowers in the EEMEA region. At the end of 2006 two sterling bond deals were issued, one from the Middle East, the other from the CIS. Both were firsts, but Barclays Capital, the leading underwriter of sterling bonds, was nowhere to be seen on either occasion.
In December, Kazakhstan’s Bank TuranAlem issued a £200 million ($394 million) three-year deal. The bonds carried a coupon of 7.18% and were priced at 214 basis points over gilts.
The BTA deal followed hot on the heels of...
