This paper studies two key costs in the issuance of debt on the emerging sovereign bond market (1993-2007): primary market bond spreads and the fees paid to underwriters. I find bond spreads are influenced by a combination of an issuer’s characteristics, external factors and the main characteristics of the issue. Underwriting fees, on the other hand, are mainly driven by issue characteristics. Furthermore, by analysing the determinants of underwriter-issuer matching, I find that issuer quality is not a key driver of matching. Other factors associated to issues characteristics and to external market conditions may affect matching. Finally, results suggest that prices (fees and spreads) differences between issues underwritten by the most reputable bank and other banks are explained by specialisation in the market following underwriters’ comparative advantage for different segments of the market.