OREANDA-NEWS. November 15, 2010. Belarus plans to offer 7 billion Russian rubles’ worth of bonds in Russia this November, the head of the central department for international financial relations and state debt of the Belarusian Finance Ministry, Andrei Smolsky, told.

“The government will sign a relevant resolution in the next few days, and we would like the issue to be completed in November. Under a presidential ruling, we may offer up to 15 billion Russian rubles’ worth of bonds, but the Russian organizer of the issue Sberbank had advised us to split the total into parts. We had planned to have three 5 billion-ruble tranches, but we are pressed for time and will have only two – 7 billion rubles and 8 billion rubles,” Smolsky said.

Asked about the terms, he said, citing Sberbank advisors, that the rate might reach 9%-9.5%. However, it depended on the timeline.

According to Smolsky, many corporate issuers are getting ready to offer their bonds, which also affects the interest rate.

Smolsky said additional placement depended on the interest of investors.

Asked whether the Finance Ministry would offer Eurobond in 2011, he said Belarus had no choice. “It is logical that if we offered them this year, we will have to continue in 2011 and onwards. These could be minor offers to support investors’ interests, to have the yield curve that investors will use as a benchmark when corporate borrowers decide to make their offers.”

According to Andrei Golikov, member of the Sberbank board, documents for registration of Belarus’ ruble-denominated Eurobond have been sent to the Federal Financial Markets Service (FSFR). Golikov was speaking at a conference in Baku.

He said Russia had to introduce some regulatory changes in order to be able to float Belarusian Eurobond, especially changes in tax regulations and in the securities market.

“The obstacles have been removed, and the transactions should be completed soon,” he said.

Another problem Sberbank and the FSFR will have to tackle is the absence of listing of Belarusian Eurobond in Russia.

Sberbank is one of the arrangers of the Belarusian Eurobond issue for Russia. The issue may amount to 15 billion Russian rubles and have a maturity of five years.