Azovstal steel producer will start a road-show for its Eurobonds issue. The first event is scheduled for Feb. 8 and will take place in Manila, Philippines. It will then continue in Hong Kong (Feb. 9) and Zurich and Geneva (Feb. 13). The company will finish the road-show on Feb. 14 in Frankfurt and London. ING and Moscow Narodny Bank are the lead-managers of the Azovstal's debut Eurobond issue.

According to the steel maker, the value of the issue and its maturity will be disclosed after the road-show. On Feb. 3, Standard & Poor's assigned B- long-term rating with positive outlook to the Eurobonds. Experts predicted in November 2005 that Azovstal could issue Eurobonds. They pointed out a positive credit history of the enterprise. At that time, the company attracted two US$100 million syndicated credits in 2004 and 2005. Earlier the owner of Azovstal, System Capital Management, announced the modernization of the enterprise.

It is expected that SCM will invest about US$1.7 billion in Azovstal. In December, SCM completed the merger of Azovstal with Markochim, a by-product coke plant. The deal improved Azovstal financial strength and its investment attractiveness. Azovstal is a monopolist producer of several types of rolled metals. According to IntelliNews data the company's net profit made up US$ 250 million in 2005.

In other news, Ukrsotsbank President Borys Timonkin has announced plans to attract US$600 million to $650 million of foreign loans in 2006. In particular, the bank intends to obtain two syndicated credits in spring and autumn US$100 million and US$150 million each, to issue US$150 million to US$200 million Eurobonds and to make a US$100 million to US$150 million private placement by May 2006. Timonkin confirmed that at present the bank is negotiating the private placement.

Ukrsotsbank should finalize the conditions of its Eurobond issue in the near future, the president said. He refused to disclose further details. In Nov. 2005 Ukrsotsbank extended for one more year the term of it syndicated credit and increased it from US$45 million to US$80 million. Deutsche Bank AG London and ING Bank N.V. were the organizers of the loan. At the same time, the interest rate on the credit was reduced to Libor+3% from Libor+3.8%. In May 2005 the bank placed 3-year US$100 million Eurobonds with 9% interest rate.