OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2011. Alfa-Bank (Moody’s: Ba1, S&P: BB, Fitch: BB+) acted as a sole lead manager for its RUB bonds Series 02 issue. Issue volume totaled — RUB 5 billion, reported the press-centre of Alfa-Bank.

The publicly placed Series 02 bonds will be included into the MICEX list of securities admitted to trading without listing. With issue tenor capped at 5 years the effective maturity is shorter as Alfa-Bank offers investors a right to sell the bonds in a year and a half. The issue envisages semi-annual coupon payments.

It is the second time that Alfa taps the ruble public debt market this year prolonging its success story after the Bank made its first foray into the bond market in 7 year in February. Despite market turbulence of late the placement caught a genuine interest on the side of investors. The book was almost 1.5 times fully sold on Dec.9. with overall demand breaking RUB 7.3 billion threshold. The coupon rates for the first three coupon periods were set equal to 9.25% per annum. Around 40 bids were gathered during a relatively short marketing campaign in a tight range of 9.00 — 9.50% per annum with a majority of demand coming closer to the 9.25% mark — right in the mid of the originally announced range.

Permanent interest in Alfa’s bonds — given the Bank’s status as the largest Russian private financial institution — has been confirmed once again in spite of the overall market uncertainty. Strong demand and diversified investors base will guarantee secondary market liquidity. Given that Alfa-Bank conforms with CBR requirements, we anticipate an inclusion of the traded bonds to the Lombard list as a logical follow-on step. — said Vladimir Tatarchuk — Head of the Corporate-Investment Division.