The 2014 All-Russia Research Team: Corporate Debt, No. 2: Alexey Bulgakov

For a second straight year, Sberbank CIB analyst Alexey Bulgakov claims the No. 2 position on this list, in part because he “provides deep insights into a region that’s often overlooked by international majors,” as one asset manager remarks. In March, Bulgakov noted that the 4.375 percent, 2018 Eurobond issue from Moscow-based metals producer Norilsk Nickel was trading at just 50 basis points over the curve of energy giant Gazprom, so he recommended favoring it with a long position. Sure enough, by the end of May, the Norilsk credit had tightened to 25 basis points below Moscow-based Gazprom’s. Looking ahead, though, he advises clients to “overweight Russian oil and gas bonds,” he says. “Regardless of the outcome of the situation with Ukraine,” Bulgakov notes, the group “is likely to outperform other sectors.” Covering 35 Russian debt issuers, “Alexey is a rare corporate analyst in that his breadth of coverage is huge,” proclaims one admirer. “He can intelligently discuss pretty much any corporate sector in Russia.”