Russian companies, facing $115 billion of debt coming due overthe next 12 months, will have the funds even as bond markets shutbecause of the Ukraine crisis, according to Moody's Investors Service andFitch Ratings.

Firms will have about $100 billion in cash and earnings at theirdisposal during the next 18 months, Moody's said in an analysis of47 businesses April 11. Almost all 55 companies examined by Fitchare “well placed” to withstand a closed refinancing market for therest of 2014, it said in a note on April 16. Banks have more than$20 billion in foreign currency to lend as the tensions promptedcustomers to convert their ruble savings, ZAO Raiffeisenbanksaid.

“The amount of cash on balances of Russian companies, committedcredit lines from banks, and the operating cash flows they will getis sufficient for the companies to comfortably service theirliabilities,” Denis Perevezentsev, an analyst at Moody's in Moscow,said by phone on April 17.

There hasn't been a single public corporate Eurobond sale fromRussian firms since February, after President Vladimir Putinannexed Ukraine's Crimea region and as unrest spread to thecountry's east. Russian dollar Eurobonds handed investors a loss of3.3 percent this year, compared with a 3.3 percent return for theBloomberg Emerging Market Corporate Bond Index.

Russia's Premium

The discord adds to skepticism about whether Ukraine, the U.S.,and the European Union will be able to use an April 17 Genevaaccord to hold Putin accountable for easing tensions that he sayshe's had no role in creating. The U.S. and its European allies havedemanded Russia help calm the crisis or face new sanctions.

Moody's outlook hinges on there being no further sanctionsagainst Russian businesses, Perevezentsev said. Sanctions would“have additional pressures on the companies' operating cash flows,”he said.

While bond markets are closed, firms have been able to get bankloans. OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the country's biggest miningcompany, agreed to borrow $750 million from international banks torefinance and “enhance” liquidity, it said April 10.

Metalloinvest Holding Co. paid as much as 165 basis points abovethe one-month London interbank offered rate (Libor) for a $1.15billion syndicated loan, from lenders including Deutsche Bank AGand ING Groep NV, the company said on March 31.

“The Libor rate is low, while the spread of the Russian debtcurve to Treasuries has widened lately,” Dmitry Pikin, who helpsmanage the equivalent of $4.7 billion at Gazprombank AssetManagement, said by phone from Moscow April 17. “When companiesborrow on the debt market, investors are looking at spreads.”

The premium investors demand to hold Russian debt over U.S.Treasuries fell 12 basis points, to 300 basis points, on April 17.That's 50 basis points below an almost two-year high on March 14,JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes show.

While the debt market may re-open in the second half of the yearif there is a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, “the nexttwo months may be difficult,” Pikin said.

Converting Rubles

The government stands ready to offer support using its gold andforeign-currency reserves, which stood at $477.7 billion as ofApril 11, according to Moody's and Fitch.

The reserves “ensure that there are no foreign currencyshortages in the system,” Moody's said in the report thismonth.

Companies that can't borrow abroad can approach local banks,Raiffeisenbank's analyst Denis Poryvay said by phone from Moscow onApril 14.

Banks had $26.7 billion of foreign currency available to lendout at the start of the month, as clients converted ruble holdingsinto dollars and euros, Poryvay said. The ruble has slumped 7.9percent this year against the dollar, the worst performance afterArgentina's peso among 24 emerging markets. The Russian currencyslid 0.2 percent to 35.6925 versus the dollar as of 4:27 p.m. inMoscow today.

“This currency won't leave the country just like that,” Poryvaysaid. “It's a source of a long-term liquidity for the Russianbanking system. So they can refinance at least a part of thecorporate loans.”

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