Fixed Income
Ukrainian sovereigns were marginally higher last week after a road show for the Kernel agro group’s Eurobond placement attracted fresh attention to the country from international portfolio managers. Kernel successfully sold USD 500mn in 5-year bonds with a coupon rate of 8.75%. These bonds have begun trading at just 30 bps above the sovereign yield curve. Meanwhile, the new survey conducted by Transparency International says that Ukraine is ranked a disappointing 131st out of 176 countries in the World Ranking of Corruption Perception putting it on a par with Kazakhstan, Russia, Nepal, and Iran. The survey’s result is especially disappointing as it implies that authorities have achieved far too little following the EuroMaidan regime change almost 3 years ago. However, it should be said that the accuracy of such surveys can be disputed, and Ukraine’s launch of the public procurement system ProZorro has been a very real milestone in improving control over a major part of national budget
