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Kazakhstan to issue $10bn in bonds as it returns to market after 15 years
Fancy owning a piece of Kazakhstan – or more specifically, its debt? Well the country is about to make its long-awaited return to the international bond market, and it's doing it through a London listing.
According to an announcement made this lunchtime, the Republic of Kazakhstan has received approval for its issue of $10bn medium term notes.
The country, which has not issued any new dollar debt since 2000, is planning a series of meeting with investors, kicking off in London on September 29, before travelling to New York, Boston, San Francisco and LA.
Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan are the lead managers.
Kazakhstan's unsecured medium term debt has been rated BBB+ by Standard & Poor's, Baa2 by Moody's and BBB+ by Fitch.
The prospectus published this afternoon notes that Kazakhstan is still under a reasonable level of economic stress, including within its banking sector, which was vulnerable to the international crisis.
It also notes that it could be at risk of an indirect hit from sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the Ukrainian conflict.
The prospectus also notes that the country's currency is subject to high volatility and that official statistics around sectors or corporate institutions “may be unreliable”.
But the country's exposure to commodities, particularly oil, gas and various metals, could make the debt attractive.