India’s Icici lines up deal; Russian CDS flatten; volumes thin; Ethiopia notes decline

By Christine Van Dusen

Atlanta, Dec. 8 – Indian bank Icici Bank Ltd. planned new notes on a Monday that saw credit default swaps spreads for Russia flatten, following the previous week’s massive widening of the country’s corporate bonds.

Not even hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine or the news that the sovereign had made a payment to Russia-based OAO Gazprom could budge bonds much, a London-based analyst said.

“Liquidity is almost non-existent,” he said. “We would expect this lack of liquidity to now persist until at least year-end.”

Meanwhile, the new issue of notes from Ethiopia – an upsized $1 billion issue of 6 5/8% notes due in 2024 that priced at par – opened on Monday about ¾-point below reoffer, he said.

“After some initial interest after the launch, buyers have dropped away from the bond,” he said.

Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan were the bookrunners for the Rule 144A and Regulation S deal.

Monday also saw India’s Icici Bank announce a plan to print up to $200 million of notes in a tap of its 3½% bonds due March 18, 2020, a market source said.

The original issue priced in September at 99.653 to yield Treasuries plus 180 bps with BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and HSBC.

Bonds from the rest of India were strong on Monday, tightening between 3 bps and 5 bps, he said.

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