Russia Sanctions

News that toxic assets will be tradeable for a time and replacement corporate bonds are on the way could dent attempts to weaken the country’s financial system

Russia accused of ‘economic gibberish’ over repayment threat as coupon payments said to flow

Fund managers see growing likelihood of Russia removal from EMBI

Long term lending to Russia is unlikely to change, even if some banks exercise short term caution

A sharp increase in retail investing is offering the country's equity capital markets a chance to keep up this year's blistering IPO pace in 2022

Russia's largest coal company is seeking an inaugural dollar bond, a pivot away from its traditional loan financing strategy

Hopes rose this week of a revival for Russia’s equity capital markets when the US Treasury extended a key sanctions licence until October, allowing aluminium conglomerate EN+ to continue with a plan that would remove sanctions on the company.

Despite worries that Russian investors are pulling away from London as the UK looks to pressure allies of the country's president Vladimir Putin, Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, this week told GlobalCapital that preserving the rule of law in the UK and making sure markets are “clean and honest” is more important than attracting Russian capital to London.

Euroclear’s refusal to continue settling Rusal trades when US sanctions were slapped on the company on April 6 may have saved many US bond investors from crystallising crippling losses. If the US plans further rounds of similar punishments, it should turn that happy accident into a permanent feature of the sanctions process.

The gloom over Russian capital markets was lifted a little this week as the US Treasury softened its stance towards sanctioned aluminium behemoth Rusal, giving hope to markets that the announcement of new sanctions against Russia at the beginning of April may not have been a knockout blow, write Sam Kerr, Francesca Young and Mike Turner.

The US Treasury, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has issued a new licence to US holders of debt or equity in EN+, Rusal and Gaz Group. It gives US persons until June 6 to divest their holdings in these companies, instead of the original deadline of May 7.

News last Friday from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) that Oleg Deripaska is set to give up his control of Rusal by removing his majority stake in EN+ (Rusal’s parent) is the best possible outcome at this point for the US, for Russia, and for investors.