Eurobond issuance from the central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region hit a record $133 billion in the first six months of the year as Russian corporates, Gulf sovereigns and Turkish banks rushed to take advantage of ultra-low funding costs.
The total easily surpassed the previous high of $113 billion set in the first half of 2012, thanks partly to bumper deals from the governments of Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which between them raised $22 billion in March and April.
Other regions also saw a resurgence of supply. Russian Eurobond sales in the year to June topped $18 billion, according to Dealogic. While still well below levels seen in the boom years of 2012 and 2013, that was only $2 billion short of the total for the two and a half years after western sanctions and weak oil prices put a dampener on the demand for Russian assets.
Volumes from Turkey also jumped from just $3.5 billion in the second half of 2016 to a record $13.3 billion as a clutch of financial borrowers – including Akbank, Garanti, Fibabanka, TSKB and Isbank – raised capital in the form of new-style Basel III-compliant notes.
