19 December 2017

Pilot issue of Russian commercial bonds for qualified investors

On 12 December National Settlement Depository assigned an ID code to the first issue of Russian commercial bonds intended for qualified investors. LECAP Moscow and St. Petersburg teams worked together on this project

Our work included drafting all necessary corporate and issue documentation – considerably differing from the model forms, negotiating the documentation with National Settlement Depository (NSD) and advising the issuer on entering into contractual arrangements with the Moscow Exchange and NSD. LECAP team created a solid legal framework not only for the debut placement of discount commercial bonds intended for qualified investors but also for the following issues of this debt instrument. 

Limiting the range of acquirers and further holders of commercial bonds to qualified investors and foreign legal entities is due to the specifics of the development project to be financed by the bond issuance.  

This well-structured instrument is safe and convenient for the issuer and investors alike, is tradable in the OTC market, helps companies that haven't reached the break-even point in their projects create positive debt history, and successful cases are scalable and replicable — which in our view creates an excellent opportunity for the companies pursuing active investment strategy to use commercial bonds to fund their projects. 

LECAP project team was led by Dmitry Krupyshev, Managing Partner (Moscow office), and Roman Zhirnov, Senior Associate (St. Petersburg office).