Backstopping some Russian corporate issues and mitigating default risk is the fact that many of the country’s largest issuers of corporate debt, including banks and energy producers, are state-controlled. That puts Russian corporates more in the quasi-sovereign category than in pure corporate territory.
In a sign that Russian issuers are looking to attract deeper foreign investment, companies have issued “$47 billion in Eurobonds in the year to date versus some $31 billion of bonds on the domestic market,” according to Reuters.
EMCB is down 7.8% this year while LQD is lower by 6.6%.
WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund
Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of LQD.