Russia Sanctions

Cherkizovo, the Russian meat and sausage producer seeking to list on the Moscow Exchange, has failed to get its re-IPO away, citing market volatility for postponing the deal.

Mining company Polymetal has converted an existing $80m bilateral credit facility with ING into a sustainability-linked loan. It is the first loan market activity from Russia since the US announced a fresh round of sanctions against some of the country’s oligarchs.

With the shock of the latest round of Russian sanctions receding a little, EM investors are already seeking out the opportunities that last week’s volatility created. Even one holder of the sanctioned and problematic Rusal debt said he has increased his exposure to Sberbank.

Lukoil has raised a $600m 10 year export credit agency-backed loan via its Uzbekistan subsidiary, as bankers say the loan market remains open for some Russian borrowers.

The CEEMEA bond market has proved resilient to the asset price crippling effects of the latest US sanctions against Russia with little evidence contagion. A steady stream of new issues this week confirmed that it is business as usual in the bond markets.

Kazmunaygas’ (KMG) $3.25bn bond on Tuesday proved to be a beneficiary of the latest round of US sanctions against Russia sanctions, as investors sought a new oil play away from the volatility surrounding assets from the proscribed state.

The Trump administration’s decision not to announce new sanctions against Russia on Monday is unlikely to be the end of the sanctions saga, with designations having been proven to be the US's most effective weapon against Russia.

The US Treasury’s targeting of Rusal in its latest round of sanctions was far from the random hit that investors are claiming. The US has demonstrated its power over the dollar-based financial system — and it has no need to do further damage.

Kazakhstan’s national oil company Kazmunaygas, rated Baa3/BB-/BBB-, has released initial price guidance for its dollar senior unsecured triple tranche 2025, 2030 and 2048 issue.

The IPO of IBS IT, a Russian technology company, was postponed on Friday due to “increased market volatility” driven primarily by US-led sanctions against Russia. According to Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, more might be coming.

With little clarity on the full scope of the new round of sanctions on Russia from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC), service providers have been quick to cut ties with the seven sanctioned oligarchs and their related entities for risk of violating new rules on facilitating business with designated individuals or entities.

In the past, some investors were able to draw a line dividing the Russian businesses in which they parked their cash from Vladimir Putin’s government, despite what some have called a “feudal” hierarchy in the country. Last week’s US sanctions obliterated that line.