You're reading: Russia’s Sberbank planning to meet with debt investors in Singapore, Hong Kong

Russia's Sberbank is planning to hold a number of meetings with debt investors in Singapore and Hong Kong soon, two sources in banking circles told Interfax.

According to the sources, the meeting will take place during a
non-deal road show, and the purpose is to expand the circle of potential
investors. There are not yet any concrete plans to place eurobonds,
however, the sources said.

The meetings’ main organizer is Singapore’s OCBC Bank, one source said.

Sberbank was one of the few Russian banks that managed to place
eurobonds before sharp decline on the debt market for Russian issuers
because of the crisis in Ukraine and accession of Crimea to Russia. The
foreign debt market has been completely closed for Russian companies for
two months.

In February, Sberbank placed $1 billion in subordinated eurobonds at
5.5% annual interest. BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank
and Sberbank CIB organized the placement.

In March, Sberbank placed $500 million and 500 million euro in
eurobonds maturing in March 2019. The dollar tranche is at 4.15% and the
euro tranche at 3.08%, the bank said in a yearly report.

Sberbank is guaranteed by its own liquidity even if foreign capital
markets will be closed to Russian borrowers for a certain amount of
time, the deputy head of the bank’s management board, Alexander Morozov,
has said. The bank can refrain from entering the international debt
market if the cost of the loans is too high, he said.