Russia has asked foreign banks to return it to the debt market – RBC

Photo: Yekaterina Kuzmina / RBC

Russia It is preparing for the first time in September 2013 to return to the international debt market. The Finance Ministry has sent 25 requests to foreign banks in the placement of sovereign Eurobonds

Russia has sent 25 foreign banks to bid for the organization of a possible placement of Eurobonds in 2016. This is stated in the documents of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, published on the ministry website on February 5.

Requests, in particular, directed Barclays, BNP Paribas, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Morgan Stanley, Mizuho Financial, Nomura, Citigroup, Societe Generale, Scotiabank, TD Securities, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, HSBC, RBC Capital markets, UBS, UniCredit, as well as three Russian banks. “VTB Capital”, Gazprombank, Sberbank CIB

The last time Russia was on the international markets in September 2013, when the paper sold a $ 6 billion maturing in 2019, 2023 and 2043, respectively. Since then, Russia has not appeared on the international capital markets due to Western sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea, which virtually shut down the country external debt markets (although Western sanctions do not apply to state borrowing).

In the last deputy week Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said that Russia plans this year to return to the market of foreign borrowing. “Wait and see. Probably still will prepare issue “, – he said. Earlier in January, he said that foreign government loans will not be as long as the sanctions apply to Russian. “The restrictions have not been removed – what’s the point? Why would labor in vain? “- Said he then

« This is -. Not a signal of despair, “- said the representative of the London-based Bloomberg Rogge Global Partners Michael Ganske. “They [the Russian authorities] are trying to get funding. At some point, the sanctions will be lifted. Banks can use this as an opportunity to establish a connection with the state for future deals with Russian corporations “, – he said, adding that Russian Eurobonds” may be of interest, if it is a good price. ”