MOSCOW, April 16 (Reuters) - Russian lender Ursa Bank is to buy back up to 100 million euros’ ($132 million) worth of euro bonds with a nominal value of 700 million euros, according to a copy of the tender announcement seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Emerging market corporate debt prices have plunged as the world financial crisis has made investors more risk averse, giving borrowers the chance to save cash by repurchasing debt more cheaply than it would cost to redeem later at face value.
Ursa Bank has set the minimum price for its 400 million euro loan participation notes (LPNs) due 2010 at 92 percent of its nominal price and for a 300 million euro LPN due 2011 at 82 percent. The offer expires April 23, the document said.
Ursa Bank had said in January it may from time to time repurchase LPNs due in 2010. [ID:nLF739040]
Other Russian companies have also been buying back debt. The country's second-largest lender VTB VTBR.MM last month bought back part of a 2015 Eurobond. [ID:nLO939418]
The owners of Ursa Bank and MDM, one of Russia’s top 30 banks, announced in December they had decided to merge their holdings, creating Russia’s second-largest privately owned bank. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev, editing by Will Waterman)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.