Central Asia

Kazakhstan printed a €1.15bn dual tranche bond on Wednesday from a book of more than €3bn at its peak, at levels that lead managers said were 6bp inside the curve for the seven year and 4bp inside for the 15 year. Bankers away from the deal saw fair value differently but conceded that there could be different views on the calculation.

The Republic of Kazakhstan has impressively tightened initial price thoughts for a euro dual tranche seven and 15 year bond, but rivals are saying that the issuer started very wide. Bankers on the deal disagree.

Nordgold, a gold mining company with assets in Russia, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Canada, has mandated banks for its first bond in more than six years.

Kaspi.kz, the largest payments company in Kazakhstan, announced on Monday that it would proceed with an IPO on the London stock exchange after filing a registration document last week.

The Republic of Kazakhstan and the State of Montenegro have mandated for the first euro bonds from the CEEMEA region since the market re-opened in September.

Kaspi.kz, the Kazakh payments group, is preparing to list global depositary receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange this autumn, as EM deals provide a brief glimmer of hope for the UK capital as Brexit volatility has killed the hopes of many UK issuers.

A number of highly anticipated emerging market IPO issuers are understood to have shifted listing plans to next year instead of the last quarter of 2019.

UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes was jailed for 11 years for manipulating Libor. But while the trader argued that he was made a scapegoat for the financial crisis, perhaps the rate he rigged is a bigger victim.

The sellers of Oltin, a closed-ended fund seeking to invest in Uzbekistan, have decided to postpone a public listing and proceed with private fundraising after investors expressed a preference for an unlisted fund structure.

Investors in London have been considering the opportunity to invest in Uzbekistan this week, through a new closed-end fund, Oltin, the first internationally listed security giving investors exposure to the Central Asian republic.

Kazakhstan is one of the most interesting and exciting investment stories in the equity capital markets given its privatisation plans. But the events surrounding its election over the weekend reminded investors of the risks they face.

GlobalMarketscan reveal that the European Investment Bank is preparing to launch a new entity — potentially called the European Bank for Sustainable Development — that will focus on sustainable projects outside the EU.