OREANDA-NEWS. June 27, 2008. The annual CIS and Baltic States Bond Congress began its work on June 19, 2008. This year the congress is being held in Vilnius, one of the Baltic capital cities.

Bank Electronika is among general sponsors of the congress. Using proprietary experience, the institution made a presentation on opportunities for financing Belarusian issuers in the debt markets of the CIS and the Baltic States

This fifth annual congress – uniting investment banks, brokerage companies, and issuers from the CIS and Baltic region – is being conducted using a traditional model that includes official business programs and informal gatherings. Participants in the congress exchange experience and discuss major issues in specialized sessions dedicated to debt markets in the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucuses, Central Asian countries, and Russia.

Bank Electronika’s Alexander Trifonov, head of the Office of Analytic Support in the Bank’s Treasury Department, spoke at the session on Belarus. In his presentation, Mr. Trifonov discussed main parameters of the Russian and Belarusian securities markets and assessed the potential for growth in the volume of borrowings by Belarus issuers. To illustrate a successful implementation of a project of this kind, Mr. Trifonov drew on the first placement of a Belarusian issuer in the Russian market. That issue was for trading company Polesie and it transpired in May 2007. In his words, the first round turned out to be entirely successful – auction demand for the Belarusian obligations enabled the issuer to obtain the average overnight interest. At this moment, trading company Polesie is a subsidiary of a manufacturing company of the same name and Belarus’s largest light industry enterprise. Polesie met its debt obligations fully and as scheduled. In May 2008 the issuer completed the offering and paid earnings on the fourth coupon.

In concluding his report, the Bank Electronika representative thanked his colleagues for displaying such interest in his presentation and called upon them to continue to collaborate in the interests of their companies and their countries.

The CIS and Baltic States Bond Congress continues for one more day. The next similar event will be held in December 2008 in the Tavrichesky Palace in St. Petersburg.