Fixed Income
Ukrainian sovereigns finished lower last week after Standard & Poor’s affirmed its negative outlook on Ukraine’s ‘B’ credit rating and trimmed its medium-term economic-growth forecasts for the country. However, the statement from S&P was no obstacle for national railway operator UkrZaliznytsa, which was able to place its debut Eurobond issue of USD 500mn 5-year notes at 9.5%. The government-owned monopoly had hoped to raise USD 750mn, but the placement still looks respectable. Benchmark Ukraine-23s shed 1.0% to close at 98.9/99.7 (7.7%/7.5%), while short-term Ukraine-14s slid 0.1% to 102.0/102.7 (5.8%/5.2%). Corporate names were mixed, with Ferrexpo-16s declining by 0.5% to 99.8/100.2 (7.9%/7.8%) while Metinvest-15s edged up 0.4% to 107.2/108.1 (6.4%/5.9%). In banking names, OschadBank-18s dropped 0.9% to 97.3/98.3 (9.6%/9.3%) and UkrExim-18s slipped by 0.3% to 98.7/99.6 (9.1%/8.8%). PrivatBank-18s inched down by 0.2%, ending at 99.1/100.4 (11.1%/10.8%).
