n the three months from May to July 2009, Russian capital markets gradually came back to life. State-backed companies Gazprom and Rosselkhozbank led the way with Eurobond issues and by the start of the third quarter, private sector firms such as Alliance Oil and Evraz were following up with convertible deals.
Michael Pugh, a capital markets lawyer for Lovells in Moscow, says one of his clients - a mid-tier Russian bank - issued a bond in August 2008 with a put option after one year. Only about half of its investors exercised the option, which gives an indication of the recovery in sentiment.
