By Andrei Skvarsky. Fort Ross Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital company, has announced an interim closure at $100m of a fund for the late-stage financing of startups. The Late-Stage Fund, whose declared target volume is $200m, is focused on investing in technology-enabled companies having a potential for an initial public offering (IPO) or a… Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
Russia’s Aton launches crypto market index & analysis report
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment company Aton announced on November 11 that it has launched a daily value index of five key cryptocurrencies and a weekly analytical cryptocurrency and blockchain report. The Aton Crypto Index (ATONCRPT), which is a joint product of Aton and S&P, covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano and Ripple, an Aton… Continue Reading
Russia’s Mercury retailer puts off IPO over ‘market conditions’
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, announced on November 9 that it had postponed a planned initial public offering due to “current market conditions”. Mercury did not say when the IPO would be held. The IPO, first announced on October 27, was to take place on Moscow Exchange and was expected to… Continue Reading
Russian retailer Mercury hopes to raise up to $1.3bn via IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, expects to raise between $1.2bn and $1.3bn via a planned initial public offering. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and Renaissance Capital are organising the float, to take place on Moscow Exchange and involve offering up to 200m global depositary receipts (GDRs) each of which… Continue Reading
Rouble best-faring of EM currencies but Russian economy may hit the rocks ‘any moment’ – Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble has been the best-performing of emerging market currencies in 2021 and is likely to get stronger in the near term but Russia’s economy as a whole is an unpredictable state and may run into trouble “any moment”, according to Moscow’s asset management boutique Matrix Capital. Inflation is likely to… Continue Reading
World ESG-focused investments likely to get above $53 tln mark by 2025 – Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. Global investments compliant with environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles may exceed $53 trillion by 2025, making up about one-third of the world’s total assets under management, said the head of Moscow-based asset management boutique Matrix Capital. ESG-compliant debt markets may show an even more impressive growth with the total value of… Continue Reading
Julius Baer announces staff moves for Swiss market, makes hires for Moscow investment unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Swiss bank Julius Baer has announced staff moves in its central management in Switzerland and made hires for its Moscow-based investment consultancy for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Gilles Stuck, today’s head of structured finance, will be in charge of the Zurich-headquartered bank’s entire Switzerland business with effect from… Continue Reading
Moscow’s Renaissance Insurance Group planning IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based Renaissance Insurance Group expects to raise up to 21bn roubles (about $289m) through a planned initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares being co-organised by Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, VTB Capital, BCS Global Markets, Renaissance Capital, Sberbank and the Tinkoff bank. Moscow Exchange would be the site of the planned floating,… Continue Reading
UAE’s Mubadala, two other firms invest $33m in Open Mineral metals trader
By Andrei Skvarsky. United Arab Emirates state investment company Mubadala and two other firms have put $33m into Switzerland-headquartered base metals trading company Open Mineral to help it further sophisticate the digitisation of its business. Dusseldorf-headquartered venture capital firm Statkraft Ventures and Beijing- and Hong Kong-based private equity fund Lingfeng Capital were the investors that joined Mubadala in… Continue Reading
$150m raised in energy transition-focused IPO co-run by Sova Capital, EarlyBirdCapital
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based brokerage Sova Capital and U.S. boutique investment bank EarlyBirdCapital have acted as joint book runners for a successful initial public offering (IPO) aimed at funding an energy transition project for emerging and frontier markets. Oxus Acquisition Corp., a Kazakh special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), raised $150m through its IPO on the… Continue Reading
Luxembourg one of world’s main 2020 FDI recipients – MoneyTransfers.com
By Andrei Skvarsky. Though foreign direct investment was generally in decline worldwide in 2020 because of Covid-19, some countries still received more of it than they had in 2019, and they included tiny Luxembourg, which attracted an equivalent of one-third of FDI attracted by China. Luxembourg received $62bn as FDI last year. This was 319… Continue Reading
Uzbek govt to relinquish control of JV with Coca-Cola in privatisation deal
The Uzbek government has pledged to sell its controlling stake in Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan, Ltd, a joint venture with Coca-Cola, as part of a current sweeping privatisation programme in the Central Asian country. Turkey’s Coca-Cola İçecek (CCI) A.Ş., one of the key bottlers in Coca-Cola’s global system, is to pay $252.28m for the 57.12 per… Continue Reading
Rouble volatility in Q2 mainly caused by OPEC+ output deal delay – Matrix
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble’s unusual volatility in the second quarter of 2021 was chiefly caused by uncertainties over the then inability of the OPEC cartel and other key oil producing nations to agree output volumes because of a dispute that was only settled by July 18, according to Russian investment firm Matrix Capital.… Continue Reading
United Medical Group sets tentative date, indicative price for Moscow IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. United Medical Group CY PLC, owner of a clinic chain in the city and region of Moscow known as the European Medical Center (EMC), has set a tentative start date for a planned initial public offering (IPO) – July 15 – and an indicative price range for the sale. The IPO would… Continue Reading
Uzbekistan’s Grand Leather Shoes pulls off buyout overseen by Bluestone bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Uzbek shoe manufacturer Grand Leather Shoes has bought out a dysfunctional electrical heating equipment producer as part of Uzbekistan’s current sweeping privatisation programme, with Central Asia-focused Bluestone Investment Bank leading the shoe company through the $1.9m acquisition. Grand Leather Shoes, whose name in Uzbek is Grand Charm Poyafzallari, acquired a stake of 61.9… Continue Reading
Moscow’s European Medical Center planning IPO to be managed by Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, J.P. Morgan, VTB Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Medical Center, a private clinic in Moscow, has announced that it plans an initial public offering (IPO) with Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, J.P. Morgan and VTB Capital acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. The European Medical Center (EMC) is the brand used for the clinic by its owner,… Continue Reading
Belgium has Europe’s best job opportunities for LGBT+ people – Reboot
By Andrei Skvarsky. Belgium is the European country with the best employment and career opportunities for LGBT+ people while the labour markets of Cyprus and Lithuania have some of Europe’s scantiest offers to make to members of sexual and gender minorities, a study by digital PR company Reboot suggests. Luxembourg is the second- and Denmark… Continue Reading
Ether arouses more interest in U.S. than anywhere else – Invezz
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Ether cryptocurrency arouses much more interest in the United States than anywhere else in the world, a study by investment intelligence company Invezz suggests. There are 11 European countries in Invezz’s ranking of the world’s 20 nations showing the greatest interest in ether and sifted from 155 countries covered by the… Continue Reading
Cotrugli Business School starts issuing blockchain-stored diplomas to graduates
By Andrei Skvarsky. Zagreb- and Belgrade-based Cotrugli Business School has begun to issue blockchain-stored digital diplomas to its graduates. The diplomas are both in print form with a QR code and in digital form. The digital versions are stored on a HashNET platform, Cotrugli said in a statement. HashNET is a blockchain technology with a… Continue Reading
Sberbank: assets held abroad not easy to get in Russian bankruptcy cases
By Andrei Skvarsky. Receivers and creditors in Russia often come up against legal and other hurdles in trying to seize assets that insolvent debtors have abroad, according to a senior manager at Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank. About 5 per cent of Russia’s businesspeople own money or property abroad, mainly in the United States, France and… Continue Reading
Geological unit of Russia’s Rosneft can monitor drilling of over 250 wells a day in real time
By Andrei Skvarsky. The real-time online geological monitoring unit of Russian state oil company Rosneft was involved in drilling more than 3,000 wells in 2020, according to the firm, which said this made the division the world leader among facilities of this kind. With a team of about 80, the Moscow-based Geological Drilling Support Centre,… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Polish VC firm Inovo launches 2nd fund, worth 54m euros
By Andrei Skvarsky. Inovo Venture Partners, a Polish venture capital (VC) firm focused on technology startups in Central and Eastern Europe, has closed a second fund, one worth 54m euros, after its first fund generated a 320 per cent return on investments in 15 companies, leading two of them to successful initial public offerings (IPOs).… Continue Reading
ActivTrades brokerage reports record profit, turnover for 2020
Online brokerage ActivTrades has reported a profit and turnover for 2020 that it says are the highest annual volumes since the company was set up 20 years ago. The London-based brokerage, which provides services in more than 140 countries in 14 languages, offering more than 1,000 contract-for-differences (CFD) or spread-betting instruments, registered a pretax profit of… Continue Reading
Russian unit of Oney banking group to go over from Sovcombank to Ozon retailer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Oney Bank LLC, the Russian unit of global banking group Oney, is changing hands as Sovcombank, one of Russia’s largest private lenders, has signed a deal to sell it to Russian online retailer Ozon. Ozon is buying 100 per cent of Oney, according to a statement from the retailer, which held an… Continue Reading
Russia’s Segezha timber products maker to hold IPO
Russian timber products manufacturer Segezha, a subsidiary of Russian conglomerate Sistema, has announced a plan to hold an initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares. The IPO would be held on the Moscow Exchange. Segezha expects to raise at least 30bn roubles ($396m at the April 14 exchange rate) via a primary offering of newly… Continue Reading
KPMG, Deloitte, Grant Thornton to advise Uzbekistan on privatisation of 18 firms
Global accounting and advisory firms KPMG, Deloitte and Grant Thornton have been hired to advise the Uzbekistan government on the planned privatisation of 18 companies, including an insurer, oil refinery, electricity transmission line builder, and 10 wine and spirits producers. State investment company UzAssets said this week that 86 bids had come in from 17… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank offers a bunch of services as $5 monthly subscription package
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has launched a scheme for retail clients that, for a monthly subscription fee of 399 roubles ($5), offers a diversity of financial and non-financial services, including a free debit card and discounts on food delivery, taxi journeys, and restaurant bills. The SberPrime+ scheme involves the acquisition of a… Continue Reading
Buildings in Tashkent, mountain resorts on sale under Uzbekistan privatisation project
Uzbekistan’s government plans to sell several properties, including three mountain resorts, under a real estate privatisation project announced last week. Five properties with a total floor space of 85,490 square metres (920,000 square feet) are going on sale in capital city Tashkent. They are a business centre, hotel, indoor houseware market, newspaper printing office and… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Inflation concerns a key world stock market factor
An analyst at London-based financial broker ActivTrades has argued that mixed developments in global stock markets this week are “broadly a reflection of lingering inflation concerns”. Investors expect an early rise in inflation in the United States because of the current successful vaccine rollouts there, technical analyst Pierre Veyret said in a statement. On the… Continue Reading