OREANDA-NEWS. June 07, 2010. LenSpetsSMU placed its first issue of commercial paper with the help of Alfa-Bank. The issue totals RUB2 bln, has a coupon rate of 14.5%  per annum, and matures in three years with no put option. Coupons will be paid quarterly, and the issue will be repaid under an amortization schedule. The bonds will be included on the Russian Central Bank’s Lombard List, reported the press-centre of Alfa-Bank.

Alfa-Bank and Promsvyazbank organized the debt offering.

Edward Kaufmann, a member of Alfa-Bank’s Executive Board and Co-head of its Corporate & Investment Banking Division, said, "This placement follows Alfa-Bank’s and LenSpetsSMU’s successful cooperation on the debt capital market and confirms the ability of Alfa-Bank’s team to operate in an unstable financial environment. The closing of the bid book and the placement show that investors are confident in LenSpetsSMU’s credit quality, even given the difficult situation on capital markets that we’ve seen over the last couple of months".

Vyacheslav Zarenkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Etalon-LenSpetsSMU Holding, said, "We are pleased with the placement, especially in view of the current state of financial markets. Indices and oil prices have plummeted since mid-May, and the Eurozone is in the midst of an economic crisis, leading investors to take their money out of Europe and stop investing in the ruble market.

Given this backdrop, it is impressive that the book managed to close at 14.5%. We placed our previous bond issue in December 2009 at 16% (ours was the first and only post-crisis issue by a Russian construction company). The fact that our most recent issue was placed at a rate 1.5 ppts lower is a great step forward. Now, not only are we the only Russian construction company to access the public debt market since the crisis broke out, but we have managed to do so twice".