Vimpelcom | |
Value | $2.2 billion multi-tranche bond issue |
Bookrunners | BNP Paribas, Barclays Capital, Citi, HSBC, ING, RBS |
return to the Emerging Europe Deals of the Year index |
June also witnessed the return to the global capital markets of Russian telecoms company Vimpelcom, which again won plaudits for executing a bumper bond sale against a backdrop of increasing unease over Europe’s debt woes. At $2.2 billion, the multi-tranche deal was the largest ever from a double-B rated CEEMEA credit and the largest from a Russian corporate since 2009 – yet the order book reached $5 billion in barely four hours and the issuer was able to add a $200 million floating-rate piece on the back of reverse enquiry from investors.
It undoubtedly helped that the transaction had been widely expected – investors were aware that Vimpelcom still had a substantial chunk of debt to refinance from its $6.6 billion acquisition of Italian mobile phone operator Wind and other assets of Egypt’s Naguib Sawiris – and built on the success of the borrower’s earlier bond market outing in January, a $1.5