Legal Documentation of Eurobonds from Russian Issuers

Abstract

The Eurobond market is one of the main sources of raising international finance for leading Russian corporations and financial institutions. I presented the general description of the structural parameters of Eurobonds, as well as the main phases of the issuing process. The focus of this article is on the documentation aspects of the Eurobond market, since preparing the legal documents is one of the key goals of the transaction execution process. An overview of the primary Eurobond documents is provided, including the Prospectus, the Mandate & Engagement Letters, the Trust deed, the issuing & Paying Agency Agreement, the deed of Covenant. The roles and functions of the involved parties (issuer, Arranger, dealers, Legal Counsels) and the documentation process of Eurobonds which I described in detail. Also, I presented a comparison of issuing Eurobonds utilising stand‑alone documentation or Euro Medium Term Note Programme. The purpose of setting up a programme is to enable Eurobonds to be issued quickly and efficiently and, by using one set of documentation, to reduce the amount of paperwork and management time for the issuer.