(Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan is considering the sale of benchmark dollar bonds for the first time since 2015 after agreeing to resolve a decade-long dispute over oil and gas assets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The central Asian nation, which had billions of dollars of assets frozen during the dispute, is weighing a sale this fall of at least $1.5 billion of bonds, the people said, asking not to be identified because discussions aren’t public.
The amount and timing will depend on market conditions, they said. There is also a chance the debt may be denominated in euros, the people said. Kazakhstan has a $1.5 billion bond coming due in October. It last sold euro-denominated debt in 2018 and 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The government is looking to hire JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Societe Generale SA for the possible deal, they said. JPMorgan declined to comment, while the other two banks and the Finance Ministry didn’t immediately reply to requests.
The long-running dispute led in 2017 to as much $28 billion of sovereign assets being frozen after the government refused to pay a $500 million arbitration award to the owners of Tristan Oil, led by Moldovan investors Anatolie and Gabriel Stati. While Kazakhstan said the following year most of the assets were released, it noted the potential risk of further claims in its 2018 eurobond prospectus.
Last month, Kazakhstan and the parties related to the Statis agreed to end the dispute, with the approval of Tristan Oil’s leading creditors, according to a Justice Ministry statement.
Fitch Ratings in May affirmed Kazakhstan’s rating at BBB, the second lowest investment grade, while S&P Global Ratings, has the country a step below at BBB-, both with a stable outlook. In March, analysts at S&P said that continuing geopolitical uncertainty and lower oil prices are raising Kazakhstan’s gross external financing needs.
--With assistance from Olga Voitova.
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