Published: November 20, 2012
The country is looking to take advantage of universally low yields.
Ukraine has successfully issued US$1.25bn of 10-year bonds with a yield of 7.8%, Bloomberg reports. It is the lowest rated country to sell debt abroad this year, with Standard & Poor’s rating it four levels below investment grade, and Fitch and Moody’s five.
The 7.8% is, according to Bloomberg data, 6.187 percentage points above that of US Treasuries with similar maturities. This suggests that Ukraine is trying to make itself attractive to investors seeking decent returns at a time of very low yields, particularly in the established northern European and US markets.
This was the third sale that Ukraine has made this year. It first approached the market in July, selling US$2.6bn of 2017 eurobonds with a 9.25% yield. That was followed up in August by the sale of a further US$1bn in eurobonds, with a yield of 7.95%, set to mature in 2014.