Financial borrowers from the former Soviet Union raised billions of dollars on the international bond market in June in deals targeting Asian investors. These borrowers are capitalizing on the relative lack of yield and supply in Asia, where investors have plenty of cash to burn. Home & Credit Finance Bank, a Czech-owned Russian consumer finance bank, raised a $275 million three-year bond on June 17. Lead managers ING Bank and Merrill Lynch managed to sell 30% of the deal to Asian investors.
In the same week, Ukraine's Ukrsibbank raised $125 million via a three-year bond issue, co-lead managed by Deutsche Bank and UBS. "We roadshowed the deal in Asia and found good demand there, selling 10% of the deal to Asian investors," says Richard Luddington, head of CEEMEA debt capital markets at UBS.
Other CIS banks preparing deals say they intend to tap the same investor pool. Bank TuranAlem chairman Saduakas Mameshtegi told reporters at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's annual meeting in Belgrade that his institution is preparing a $350 million three-year floating-rate note transaction, and that "we are counting on investors in southeast Asia."
William Weaver, director of CEEMEA debt origination at Citigroup, says: "Asian demand is certainly growing steadily."