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ARMENIA AND BULGARIA RACE TO SELL BONDS
Wall Street Journal
March 19 2015
By Ben Edwards
Some of the world's riskiest sovereign borrowers are rushing to sell
bonds, taking advantage of the still rampant search for yield amid
an era of record low global interest rates.
Junk-rated Armenia is seeking to issue a 10-year dollar bond for
only the second time on record, with bankers working on the deal
suggesting a yield in the area of 7.625%. The country is seeking to
raise $500 million.
Eastern European peer Bulgaria, which is rated one notch above junk
by Fitch Ratings and one level below investment grade by Standard &
Poor's Corp., is seeking to issue three lots of euro bonds maturing
in seven, 12 and 20 years. Bankers are suggesting those bonds should
price at implied yields of roughly 2.3%, 2.9% and 3.4% respectively.
Investors have already placed orders for more than EURO 4 billion
($4.24 billion) of bonds, according to a banker managing the sale.
In addition, Ecuador, which met with bond buyers about a potential
deal last week, may be poised to issue dollar bonds again, just seven
years after it last defaulted on its debt. It returned to markets in
June last year with a $2 billion, 10-year bond sale.
"If there's any point this year when you go for it, now is the time,"
said Simon Quijano-Evans, an emerging-market analyst at Commerzbank
CRZBY +1.14%. "There has been very little supply of emerging-market
sovereign debt, so these deals will find strong demand because of
the high liquidity that's out there."
Emerging-market borrowers have raised $31 billion from global bond
sales so far this year, about a fifth less than at this stage 12
months ago, according to Dealogic. Such borrowers raised a record
$114 billion in the whole of 2014, the data show.
That rush to sell debt last year is allowing riskier countries to
issue bonds now because there are fewer competing debt sales on offer,
Mr. Quijano-Evans said.
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"It wouldn't surprise me to see a whole lot of less frequent borrowers
come to market," he said.
http://blogs.wsj.com/frontiers/2015/03/19/armenia-and-bulgaria-race-to-sell-bonds/
Wall Street Journal
March 19 2015
By Ben Edwards
Some of the world's riskiest sovereign borrowers are rushing to sell
bonds, taking advantage of the still rampant search for yield amid
an era of record low global interest rates.
Junk-rated Armenia is seeking to issue a 10-year dollar bond for
only the second time on record, with bankers working on the deal
suggesting a yield in the area of 7.625%. The country is seeking to
raise $500 million.
Eastern European peer Bulgaria, which is rated one notch above junk
by Fitch Ratings and one level below investment grade by Standard &
Poor's Corp., is seeking to issue three lots of euro bonds maturing
in seven, 12 and 20 years. Bankers are suggesting those bonds should
price at implied yields of roughly 2.3%, 2.9% and 3.4% respectively.
Investors have already placed orders for more than EURO 4 billion
($4.24 billion) of bonds, according to a banker managing the sale.
In addition, Ecuador, which met with bond buyers about a potential
deal last week, may be poised to issue dollar bonds again, just seven
years after it last defaulted on its debt. It returned to markets in
June last year with a $2 billion, 10-year bond sale.
"If there's any point this year when you go for it, now is the time,"
said Simon Quijano-Evans, an emerging-market analyst at Commerzbank
CRZBY +1.14%. "There has been very little supply of emerging-market
sovereign debt, so these deals will find strong demand because of
the high liquidity that's out there."
Emerging-market borrowers have raised $31 billion from global bond
sales so far this year, about a fifth less than at this stage 12
months ago, according to Dealogic. Such borrowers raised a record
$114 billion in the whole of 2014, the data show.
That rush to sell debt last year is allowing riskier countries to
issue bonds now because there are fewer competing debt sales on offer,
Mr. Quijano-Evans said.
Advertisement
"It wouldn't surprise me to see a whole lot of less frequent borrowers
come to market," he said.
http://blogs.wsj.com/frontiers/2015/03/19/armenia-and-bulgaria-race-to-sell-bonds/