NINTH YEAR IN A ROW ICU PROVES TO BE THE LEADER IN UKRAINIAN FIXED INCOME MARKET – CBONDS

The ICU Group once again took a first position in annual ranking of Ukrainian fixed income traders by number and volume of on- and off-exchange transactions in government bonds in 2017. The ranking was conducted by a news agency Cbonds based on the data of “Ukrainian stock traders” Association, which has official financial reports from the market operators – members of the association.

In comparison to the last year ICU increased its market share by the quantity of deals from 34.7% to 37.56% and increased its market share by volume of deals by 11%, reaching 35.85%.

 
“The leaders of this ranking could be proud of their work indeed, as it is clear that this segment remains a core of the national capital market... Against background of other segments of capital market, government bonds segment is the most valuable and market-making instrument, which is attractive for investors and financial intermediaries. As a result, leadership in fixed income market provides leadership in the whole national stock market.”- The head of “Ukrainian stock traders” Association Aleksey Petrashko commented.

"From both our daily activities and trading results for the year, we can see that more and more individuals and companies in Ukraine prefer government bonds. Some replace deposit with these bonds, others just diversify their investments. The reason is simple - the bonds yields are at the level, sometimes even higher than deposit yields, and their reliability is guaranteed by the government, as the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine is the issuer of government bonds. Ukrainians began to give priority to the reliability of investments after a mass removal of insolvent and "pocket" banks from the market.” - said the managing partner of ICU Konstantin Stetsenko.

More detailed information on ranking is available on the Cbonds website by reference.

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT ICU

ICU is an independent asset management, private equity and investment advisory firm specialising in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe.

Founded in 2006 by senior investment professionals from ING, ICU is Ukraine's leading asset manager. ICU currently manages over $500m in assets. Managing Partners Makar Paseniuk and Konstantin Stetsenko are majority shareholders of ICU.

ICU’s veteran investment team has experience in private equity, high yield corporate debt, distressed debt, restructurings and other special situations across a number of emerging markets. Investment decisions are supported by robust macroeconomic and sectoral analyses from the in-house team of research economists.

ICU aims to provide its clients with superior risk-adjusted returns across a number of asset classes. The firm is expanding its reach into key European markets via a combination of organic growth and acquisition and continues to expand the range its investment offerings.