By Art Patnaude and Sarka Halas
Russia's largest bank, state-controlled OAO Sberbank (SBER.RS),
Monday announced plans to sell its first bonds denominated in
Turkish lira, the second Russian bank to issue debt in the currency
this month.
The lender will sell the five-year bonds with a yield in the
area of 7.5%, a bank working on the deal said. The deal is expected
to launch this week and follows a series of meetings with investors
last week.
Sberbank acquired Turkey-based Denizbank (DENIZ.IS) in September
of last year and it is likely to use the lira bond to expand its
business operations in Turkey, market watchers said.
Sberbank's lira-denominated bond comes on the back of Akbank TAS
(AKBNK.IS) issuing a 1 billion lira ($565 million) five-year
Eurobond earlier this year. That bond was the first
lira-denominated Eurobond sold by a Turkish bank on the
international market.
"A good peer would be the lira-denominated bond that Akbank
issued at the end of January, that bond is currently trading at
7.2%, so Sberbank offers about a 30-basis-point premium to Akbank,"
said Maxim Korovin, senior strategist at VTB Capital, adding that
the investors could get slightly more yield for the Sberbank deal
because it is a debut issue.
HSBC Holdings PLC, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Sberbank will
manage Sberbank's sale. The bank is rated A3 by Moody's Investors
Service Inc. and BBB by Fitch Ratings.
Earlier this month VTB Bank (VTBR.RS), Russia's second-largest
bank, sold its second lira bond, raising 300 million lira ($166.5
million) of two-year bonds. Last April, VTB became the first
foreign issuer of local currency bonds in the Turkish market with a
three-year, TRL300 million bond.
At the time, VTB's chief executive officer for Middle East and
Africa, Makram Abboud, said the deal reaffirmed the bank's belief
in the sophistication of Turkish investors.
Write to Art Patnaude at art.patnaude@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires