Rencap's $612m Sistema bond mandate takes its recent dealfow over $2bn

By Jason Corcoran in Moscow

Russia’s Renaissance Capital has been appointed as lead manager and bookrunner for a 20bn rouble bond ($612m) by conglomerate Sistema which caps a string of deals worth over $2bn during the past month.

The Sistema rouble bond is the biggest of the year and beats the recent 15 billion ruble ($485m) issue by Russia’s biggest lender Gazprom.

The five-year bond, which will be issued via a Dutch auction on Tuesday, will be used to refinance foreign debt owed by Sistema.

The other deals won by Renaissance mark a new entry into new markets in Poland, Zambia, Sierra Leone, as well as the convertible bonds sector.
Renaissance was a co-lead manager on a follow-on $200m public offering by Polish vodka producer CEDC on July 20. The deal was four times over-subscribed and pricing was close to the market.

On July 29, Rencap priced a combined $300m equity and convertible bond issue for Zhaikmunai, a Kazakh oil and gas company. It was the first convertible bond structured and priced by Renaissance and the first convertible offering structured and led by a Russian bank.

Renaissance acted as sole bookrunner on a follow-on offering for AIM-listed African Minerals that raised $105.5m. The placing raised growth capital to finance the company’s drilling campaign at an iron ore project in Sierra Leone.

The transaction is the only second equity offering to have priced at a premium in EMEA this year.

Ongoing deals include a $49m rights issue by Zambia Sugar which would become the bank’s third African capital markets transaction this year.

The deals represent a vindication of the appointment of Yury Gruzglin who was hired from Deutsche Bank last October to run the debt product group. He replaced Brian Lazell who retired from banking.

Renaissance, which was forced to pare back its staff by 50% following the banking crisis, has recently started hiring again and has raised salaries to pre-crisis levels.

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