Russian holders of domestic corporate Eurobonds face delays in receiving payments settled through international agents, as transactions get snarled up by sanctions, Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD), companies and analysts said.
Russian steel giant Severstal was racing against the clock on Wednesday to avoid becoming the country’s first major corporate default since the Ukraine crisis began, with international payment lines snarled by sanctions.
Severstal, whose main shareholder Alexey Mordashov is one of a number of wealthy Russians now sanctioned by the European Union, has until the end of the day to get an already overdue $12.6 million loan ‘coupon’ payment to its creditors.