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The supervisory board of Russia’s Rosatom Group has given the greenlight to raise foreign financing, and work is underway on preparing the issue of Chinese RMB Yuan bonds and Islamic Sukuk bonds.
The China bonds could manifest themselves as the so-called ‘Panda Bonds’, being Chinese renminbi-denominated bond from a non-Chinese issuers, sold in China.
These will be sold to finance its subsidiary Atomenergoprom (AEP), in order to complete the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkiye, where a Siemen’s default led to a new requirement to raise capital. The new arrangements were disclosed by Ilya Rebrov, Rosatom’s deputy CEO for economics and finance.
Rosatom is also exploring raising financing through initial public offerings. Rebrov said “With IPOs, a number of risks arise related to corporate governance and disclosure of information amid the fulfilment of national objectives. In light of this, Medscan Group (a leader in Russia’s private healthcare sector) and nine other companies working in composite materials, information technology and gold mining have been selected with potential managing banks for preparation for IPOs in 2026 and beyond.”
Nuclear industry organizations have a number of potential restrictions to going public, he said. “Deals with organizations that might own nuclear materials and nuclear facilities, as well as with companies that have strategic significance must have the prior approval of the Russian president or the government commission for control over foreign investment in Russia. Right now the main issue is the priority and speed of implementation of critically important projects. Consequently, it’s important to balance the corporation’s budget without factoring in additional state support.”
He added that several other Russian companies are being considered as possible candidates if their financial results in 2025-2026 demonstrate stable growth and if they draw interest from potential investors in preliminary discussions and meetings.
In terms of internal resources for 2025-2030, Rosatom’s EBITDA is expected to grow by ₽1.2 trillion (US$14.97 billion) while its investment needs are expected to grow by ₽4.5 trillion. Rosatom reported earlier that its investment program totalled ₽1.456 trillion in 2024.
The moves are interesting as it appears that international funding for Russian-involved projects will now be sought not on western financial markets but in MiddleEast and Asia markets. The Islamic financing sector is of particular importance as the appetite for these extends throughout both regions and are available in major centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Jakarta as well as Istanbul, Dubai among other regional locations, where support and interest in Asian projects (such as the Akkuyu NPP will be higher and investors more knowledgeable.
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