GMHLY Gam Holding Ag (PK)

The Russian government is struggling to find major global banks to help it sell $3 billion worth of sovereign bonds, putting into question Moscow's return to capital markets after a near three-year absence.

Many European banks have ruled themselves out of participating in a bond sale, unwilling to upset U.S. and European authorities, who have imposed sanctions on a range of Russian companies and individuals. The U.S. government has already warned off some top U.S. banks.

That leaves Russia mainly reliant on local and Chinese banks to get the deal done. But these banks may not have the international reach to sell Moscow's first foreign deal since sanctions were imposed following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russian officials have said that European banks are crucial for the sale.

The sanctions don't explicitly prohibit banks from handling bond sales for the Russian government or investors from buying these securities. But the U.S. and the EU are concerned that Moscow could funnel money raised to sanctioned companies, and they have let banks know that, people familiar with the matter said.

Some investors are also wary of buying a potential bond deal for the same reason.

"Nobody wants to do something that could be seen to be outside the spirit of the sanctions," said Paul McNamara, a fund manager at GAM Holding AG.

Russia invited banks from the U.S., Europe and China to pitch for the potential $3 billion bond deal.

The EU has not banned banks from participating in the deal, but it has told bankers to ensure the proceeds of any deal don't end up in the hands of sanctioned companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

"Any bank would need to be mindful and exercise due diligence" to guard against this, an EU official said in a statement.

European banks are also concerned about angering the U.S., which in recent years has levied billions of dollars of fines against European lenders, including BNP Paribas SA and HSBC Holdings PLC, for breaching sanctions.

BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC and UBS Group AG have decided not to underwrite Russia's bonds, according to people familiar with the matter.

U.S. lenders Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. are also steering clear, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some European lenders haven't ruled out doing the deal, including Italy's UniCredit SpA and France's Socié té Gé né rale SA, according to people familiar with the matter. Socié té Gé né rale, which owns Rosbank, one of Russia' major privately owned banks, declined to comment.

Svetlana Nikitina, an adviser to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, said earlier this month that around half of the 28 banks it asked to pitch for the deal have responded to the offer.

The banks in talks with Russia are asking that the bond not be denominated in dollars, one Moscow-based banker close to the deal said. That could crimp the total amount of money Moscow could raise, investors say.

If the bond is denominated in dollars then its settlement will have to go through the U.S., which could present problems for banks working on the deal, this person said.

A final decision on which banks will be hired is expected by the end of this week or as early as next week, according to a Russian government official.

As well as Russian banks, Chinese banks will be among the main organizers of the deal, but Moscow would still like Europeans to take part in the deal, the government official and the Moscow-based banker said.

Chinese banks are beefing up overseas in a reflection of the country's bigger international clout, but have yet to make major inroads into European and U.S. capital markets.

But one of China's four largest state-run banks declined to pitch out of concern it didn't have sufficient distribution capabilities in Europe to handle the sale and wasn't sure such a deal would pass muster in Beijing, according to a Europe-based banker at the firm in question.

For investors, one potential concern is that it might be hard to sell the bonds on the secondary market without major trading houses standing ready to match buyers and sellers of these securities.

Still, some potential buyers aren't deterred by sanctions.

"We're free to do whatever we want. The Russian Federation is not a sanctioned entity," said Edwin Gutierrez, head of emerging-market sovereign debt at Aberdeen Asset Management.

That said, even if buying Russian bonds is possible, it's not necessarily an easy sell. Mr. Gutierrez says he doesn't see much value in Russian bonds following a sharp rally last year.

Russia's real gross domestic product fell 3.7% in 2015 and is expected to drop further this year. Facing shortfalls in the budget, the finance ministry has cut spending and is now seeking to borrow abroad.

"The real economy is still going to be in recession this year. It's going to be a very tough environment," said Yerlan Syzdykov, head of emerging-market bonds at Pioneer Investments.

James T. Areddy also contributed to this article.

Write to Christopher Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com and Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 23, 2016 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT)

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