BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

11/12/2009

Belarus ups size of planned Eurobond to $2 bln

MINSK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Belarus has quadrupled the size of its planned maiden Eurobond issue to up to $2 billion, and said on Friday it also plans to issue bonds denominated in Russian roubles and to raise more money through syndicated loans.

The former Soviet republic's economy has been harmed by deteriorating demand from the recession-routed Russia and Europe, forcing the government to look for financial aid abroad including the International Monetary Fund.

Belarus wants Russia's biggest lender Sberbank to organise its sovereign bonds issues.

"This plan supposes...the organisation of the issue of Eurobonds with maturity of three to five years, for up to $2 billion (and) the organisation of a bond issue on the Russian market for up to 15 billion roubles ($411 million)," Belarus First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said on Friday.

State-controlled Sberbank will also syndicate loans for $300 million and 5 billion roubles, Semashko said, giving no further details.

Belarus on Thursday approved the sale of state-run BPS Bank to Sberbank for slightly over $280 million.

Russian major plans to inject $300-350 million into the BPS Bank's capital but sees no hurry.

"It is an indicative figure, we have no specific time limits," Sberbank's chief executive officer German Gref said.

(Reporting by Andrey Makhovsky; Writing by Dmitry Sergeyev; Editing by Victoria Main)

Source:

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7667589&action=article


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