OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank CIB was recognised as Best Rouble Bond House at the annual EMEA Finance Achievement Awards 2015, and two deals involving the company came first in the categories Best Rouble Bond Issuance (for the arrangement of RusHydro's RUB 10 bln issuance) and Best Convertible Bond in CEE (for the $100 mln five-year convertible bonds of Petropavlovsk plc).

In 2015, Sberbank CIB was the lead manager of 58 rouble bond issues of corporates, financial institutions and local authorities, and topped the bookrunner ranking for market rouble bond placements with a market share of over 16%. One of the deals where Sberbank CIB acted as a lead manager - the placement of 10-year RUB bonds for RusHydro - was awarded by EMEA Finance. During the placement the initial guidance for the first coupon was lowered twice, and as a result the first coupon rate was set at 12.75% per annum.

An EMEA Finance award was also presented for the issue of convertible bonds worth $100 mln for Petropavlovsk plc, which Sberbank CIB organised. This transaction was part of a larger, two-stage deal where Sberbank CIB was the joint project coordinator to restructure Petropavlovsk's $330 mln bonds, which was the largest ECM transaction out of Russia in 2015. Uniquely for Russia, the two-part restructuring was executed via a rights issue structure, and involved the issuance of convertible bonds.

Oleg Ganeev, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, Head of Sberbank CIB, said: "We are delighted to be recognised in three categories of this prestigious award. These accolades confirm the excellent performance of our team during a period of market volatility. Last year was an exciting and eventful one for us: we arranged bond placements for the majority of first-tier issuers and completed a number of bond buy-back and restructuring deals. In particular, Sberbank CIB was among the organisers of the first OFZ-IN deal, which was a landmark issuance for the domestic market, and in late 2015 we organised the issue of $750 mln worth of five-year Eurobonds for Evraz Group, a unique transaction given the current market situation. We plan to continue broadening our expertise by delivering cutting edge solutions to our clients."

Sberbank CIB has long been recognised for its achievements amongst international publications in their annual awards for its position at the forefront of DCM, ECM and M&A. Every year EMEA Finance recognises Sberbank's successes in the areas of DCM and project finance. Additionally, The Banker named Sberbank CIB as Most Innovative Investment Bank in CEE at its Annual Investment Banking Awards in recognition of its deal activity in 2014.