Fixed Income
Ukraine’s sovereign Eurobonds appreciated last week, helped by optimism from the placement of a new US-backed 5-year USD 1.0bn issue at a 1.844% yield, a spread of 28 bps to US Treasures. The week also passed without a major escalation of the situation in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, where the results of the previous week’s anti-Kyiv referendum went largely ignored, even by the Russian government. The Kremlin once more denied having an intention to send its military into Ukraine, and for the first time since the start of the crisis, top Donetsk industrialist Rinat Akhmetov appeared to take a strong anti-separitist stand, sending employees of his Azovstal and MMKI steel mills out into the streets of Mariupol to help to restore order there. Currently, the most serious issue in the Donbass appears to be the threat of the separatist leaders to prevent the May 25 presidential election from being held in the region. Ukraine-14s, which are due in just over two weeks on Jun 4, advanced by
