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Belarus places further $400-million in Eurobonds

Belarus has placed a further $400 million in its five-year Eurobonds, Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Amaryn said on Tuesday, as quoted by BelaPAN.

The deputy minister noted that new notes were priced to yield 8.25 percent.

In July, the Belarusian government placed a five-year $600-million benchmark Eurobond at 8.75 percent.

“The 8.75-percent coupon meets sentiments in the entire market,” Finance Minister Andrey Kharkavets said while commenting on the Eurobond placement. “And it is important to understand that it is investors, not we, who dictate terms.”

As for the announcement made by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on July 26 that it had assigned its “B+” preliminary long-term senior unsecured debt rating and a recovery rating of “4” to Belarus’ proposed debut Eurobond, Mr. Kharkavets said that those were only preliminary ratings.

He said that investors based in Europe, Asia, South and Northern America, and Israel had displayed an interest in the country’s first-ever foreign-currency sovereign bond.

Experts say that the relatively high yield that Belarus is offering attracts some investors at a time when bonds from larger emerging economies are offering only slight premiums to US Treasury notes.