An emerging market bond banker told FN two weeks ago that all he really wanted was a Russian company to head back into the international debt markets. It would reopen the market for local issuers unaffected by sanctions from the west, he said. Now he’s got his wish and, like buses, two came along at once.

International bond deals during the past week from Russian miner Norilsk Nickel (which secured $1 billion) and energy company Gazprom (€1 billion) raised a cheer from emerging market bankers covering central, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who had been struggling to find much to be cheerful about this year given a slowdown in deals amid market turmoil.