British investors gobble up lion's share of Russian government Eurobonds

Most of the Eurobonds offered by the Russian government on Tuesday were bought by UK investors, according to Andrey Solovyev, global head of debt and capital market at state-run bank VTB Capital that ran the placement.

“Despite high volatility of the market and challenging political environment, the placement has elicited a huge response among the Europeans,” the economist said, adding that investors from Europe purchased around 18 percent of the issue.

“Meanwhile, British investors bought up the major part of the issue – 55 percent,” Solovyev said, adding that another three percent of the Russia-issued Eurobonds were acquired by US investors. The remaining 24 percent were reportedly bought by Russians.

On Tuesday, Russia raised a billion euros ($1.13 billion) with a yield of 3.0 percent from the sale of its first euro-denominated Eurobond in five years, according to the country’s finance ministry.

Even though the market has been posing great risks amid potential anti-Russian sanctions and escalating tensions with Ukraine, foreign investors still own a large portion of Russian bonds. As of October 1, the share of Eurobonds held by foreigners totaled 46.3 percent.

The placement of sovereign Eurobonds in euros was not related to the country’s de-dollarization plans, but will only encourage it, according to the Deputy Finance Minister Vladimir Kolychev as quoted by Sputnik.

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