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Yield of Russian Eurobonds reasonable, says ex-finance minister

Yield of Russian Eurobonds is reasonable subject to the current geopolitical situation, ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says, it is an interesting experiment that proved to be successful

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Yield of Russian Eurobonds is reasonable subject to the current geopolitical situation, presidential Economic Council’s working group leader and ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Wednesday.

"It’s good everything was done cautiously, with a fairly reasonable yield subject to the geopolitical situation," Kudrin said commenting on the recent sovereign Eurobonds offering.

Russian Eurobonds offering is an interesting experiment that proved to be successful, Kudrin went on. 

"I would very cautiously say: the point is that I believe it is an interesting experiment. This is essentially a pilot project and I believe it is successful on the whole," Kudrin said.

Yield of Russian Eurobonds is reasonable subject to the current geopolitical situation, Kudrin said. "It’s good everything was done cautiously, with a fairly reasonable yield subject to the geopolitical situation," he added.

Opinion

 Sovereign Eurobonds offering by Russia was market ‘testing’, Deputy Chief Executive of Russia’s Vnesheconombank (VEB) Andrei Klepach said on Tuesday.

"The Eurobonds offering is market ‘testing’. Russian banks have currency and offering is among Russian banks, as I understand. Currency is available; securities are good," Klepach said.

The banker did not mention whether VEB participates in buying Russian Eurobonds.

Investors from the United States purchased a small portion of Russian sovereign Eurobonds, Department Head of Russia’s VTB Capital investment bank Andrey Solovyov told TASS on Wednesday.

Investors from the United Kingdom took the lead in buying Russian bonds, the expert added.

"Foreign investors bought about 75% of the offering. The United Kingdom is in the first place in terms of regions, followed by continental Europe, Asia and the United States. There weren’t too many investors from the United States, which is quite explainable," Solovyov said.

Among the Russian investors showing interest in the offering were not merely commercial banks but also private pension and investment funds, the expert added. "The Finance Ministry tried to broaden the list of those capable of buying these securities," Solovyov said.

Foreign investors purchased Eurobonds worth $1.2 bln and Russian commercial banks bought securities in the amount of $550 mln, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier.

The Russian Finance Ministry closed the sovereign Eurobonds offering transaction on Tuesday and sold securities worth $1.75 bln against the demand of $7 bln. The yield of 10-year bonds equals 4.75% per annum. VTB Capital acted as the arranger of offering.