Bigger does not necessarily mean better. Just look at the relative performances of Russia’s and Egypt’s sovereign bonds. Both were launched on April 21. While the Russia deal came with tremendous fanfare – the sovereign’s first issuance in 12 years – the Egypt bond – its first in nine – almost slipped by unnoticed.
Russia raised $5.5 billion through five-year and 10-year tranches. The five-year was launched at a spread of 125 basis points over US treasuries, while the 10-year tranche came out at 135bp over. On May 21, they were trading at 252bp over and...
