Citi, DB, BNP Paribas, VTB, Sberbank to organize sovereign Eurobond issue - Storchak
MOSCOW. Dec 26 (Interfax) - Citi, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, VTB Capital and Sberbank of Russia have been appointed the organizers of a new planned sovereign Eurobond issue, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said at a press conference on Monday.
"We are indeed working on the basis that we will place new Eurobonds in Q1. The organizers have already been selected. This time three foreign banks, [including] Citi and Deutsche Bank, the two leading players on this market, and they have already helped to organize previous issues, although they did not work together; and the third bank is a new one, we are trying to expand the list of financial institutions dealing with the primary issue - this is BNP Paribas," Storchak said.
Asked when the bonds might be placed, he said: "I have to recall once more the volatility in the markets, the situation with sovereign debt in various countries. The first quarter exists as a guideline, but this isn't the sort of situation where you can draw a clear schedule up and follow it. It would be ideal if we could, as it would be much more convenient for investors to work with the borrower, but markets are markets and we have to take the true situation into consideration," Storchak said.
Russia will place 2012 Eurobonds in tranches, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on December 22.
"We'll be placing them in portions, depending on the market situation," he said.
Asked how big the offerings would be, he said: "We'll see. We'll be adopting a conservative approach."
The Russian Finance Ministry is rounding off preparations to issue foreign-currency Eurobonds and plans to place them at the beginning of 2012, Konstantin Vyshkovsky, head of the ministry's State Debt and Financial Assets Department, has said.
Deputy Finance Minister Storchak has said he thought Russia might offer a small volume of Eurobonds next year to support those already in circulation.
Russia returned to the Eurobond market following a 12-year absence in the spring of 2010, when the Finance Ministry placed $2 billion in five-year notes at 3.741% and $3.5 billion in ten-year notes at 5.082%.
Russia sold a debut ruble-denominated Eurobond issue at the end of February, placing 40 billion rubles in seven-year bonds at 7.85%; and another tranche of 50 billion rubles in May.