Russian Railways reveals bond issue date

Russian Railways plans to launch the offering of its two five-year bond issues with a total par value of RUB 30bn (approx. USD 839m) on March 12, RBC reports. Lead managers project coupon rates to amount to 14.5-15.5 percent. Analysts at Renaissance Capital believe that, given the current conditions, new instruments are not likely to interest a wide range of market participants. In analysts' opinion, it would suffice remembering the results of the recent Moscow-59 annual offering, whose yield stood at 16 percent. It is most likely that the key buyers of the bonds will be Russian Railways' major lending banks. It is also worth mentioning that, according to offering documents, one of the conditions for the issue's early redemption is its exclusion from the Bank of Russia's Lombard and direct repo lists.