{{{?:0}}} Cellrox, an Israeli start-up in the mobile services domain, has bagged a USD 4.7 mln round of funding during its Series A round. Led by Runa Capital, the company’s existing investors are also participating in the round. They include Columbia Technology Ventures and Previz Venture Partners, among others. The funding will be used to… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Deals
Micex-RTS to sell part of its stock via IPO
{{{?:0}}} Moscow’s Micex-RTS stock exchange is planning to put some of its own stock on sale through an initial public offering on its Micex trading platform, with Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank CIB and VTB Capital acting as joint global coordinators. The four banks will also be bookrunners for the IPO, a role in which they… Continue Reading
Swiss PE firm to invest €100 mln in Russian e-commerce
{{{?:0}}} Pluribus Optimum, a Swiss PE firm, has earmarked EUR 100 mln for investments in Russia and CIS countries over the next three years. The funds will target e-commerce platforms to improve certain operational aspects such as order processing, document handling, billing and payment acceptance. They will also be targeting the third-party logistics market, popularly… Continue Reading
East Capital exits ELKO computer wholesaler as sales go up
{{{?:0}}} East Capital, a private equity and venture capital firm with 3.8bn euros under management, has sold out of after helping the Riga-headquartered computer wholesaler to stabilise and boost its business. East Capital has made a profit of 36% on its 8.8% interest in ELKO since it acquired the stake in 2005, according to a… Continue Reading
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will invest $40 million to support SMEs in Russia's provinces
{{{?:0}}} The Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, approved up to $40 million in financing for a private equity investment fund that will support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Russia’s outer provinces, where private equity has been largely unavailable. Fast-growing SMEs with strong market… Continue Reading
Czech company invests in Russian online ticketing service
{{{?:0}}} Popular Russian online ticketing service Travelata.ru has received a financial boost from Czech investment company Invia. The latter is backed by Polish VC fund MCI Management, and is already a leader in the online travel bookings market in the CEE region. Though Travelata competes globally with giants like Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline, the Russian… Continue Reading
Runa Capital Co-Founder Announces $100 Mln Quantum Technology Fund
{{{?:0}}} A new venture fund dedicated to supporting companies that use quantum technology and materials, called the Quantum Wave Fund (QWave), will be launched shortly with around USD 100 mln under management. The investors include Russians Sergei Beloussov, Sergei Kouzmine and other prominent investors and scientists. The fund will target companies working with data networks,… Continue Reading
Sberbank makes 26m-euro unsecured loan to engineering firm
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has extended a seven-year unsecured loan of 26m euros to HMS Group, a Moscow-based manufacturer of pumps, compressors and oil and gas equipment. The fixed-rate loan, which comes with a three-year grace period, has been structured by Sberbank-CIB, a division that was part of Troika Dialog before the Moscow brokerage was… Continue Reading
EBRD lends to Ukraine’s Coal Energy
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending up to $US 70 million to Ukrainian mining group Coal Energy SA, which will use the loan proceeds to improve the efficiency and safety of its production capacities, located in eastern Ukraine, as part of an overall modernisation programme. Continue Reading
Almaz Capital Partners invests in Russian Square clone 2can
Russian Square copycat 2can has secured $400,000 in funding from a new investor, Almaz Capital Partners. Mobile card acquiring service 2can was officially launched in Russia in September 2012, but founded a year earlier, in November 2011. It offers customers the chance to transform their smartphones running iOS or Android into mobile POS terminals with… Continue Reading
Sberbank takes majority stake in Yandex.Money
Russia’s Sberbank is to spend $60 million for a majority stake in Yandex.Money, the online payment business of Russian search engine Yandex. The companies are to form a joint venture through the acquisition by Sberbank of a 75% (minus one share) interest in Yandex.Money, with Yandex retaining a blocking interest in the JV with 25%.… Continue Reading
East Capital Buys Lithuanian Mall Gedimino 9
East Capital, Swedish-based asset management firm, has purchased a Lithuanian shopping mall in Vilnius from Ektornet, a subsidiary of the Swedbank Group. The mall, called Gedimino 9, will benefit from the funding by getting improvements to its commercial aspects as well as a re-shaping and brand positioning in the near future. The deal was completed through… Continue Reading
EBRD nearly doubles syndicated loan raised for Russian Rosbank
A syndicated loan raised by the EBRD for Rosbank, a Russian private bank controlled by France’s Societe Generale group, has been heavily oversubscribed and the total loan amount nearly doubled to USD 290 million due to strong interest from commercial banks. A total of 11 international banks are participating in the USD 230 million syndication… Continue Reading
Marguerite Fund expands its wind farm portfolio with the acquisition of a stake in an 80 MW project in Romania
The Marguerite Fund announced today that it has acquired a 50% stake in the Chirnogeni (80MW) wind farm in Romania, from Cyprus-based developer EP Global Energy, which will remain a 20% shareholder. The project, which is about to start construction, comprises 32 Nordex N90/2500 2.5MW wind turbines for a total installed capacity of 80MW. It… Continue Reading
Elbrus Capital buys out stake in Russian Delivery Co SPSR-Express
Elbrus Capital, Russian venture capital firm, has bought out Svarog Capital Advisors‘ stake in Russian express delivery company SPSR-Express. Svarog’s investment vehicle in the holding was the Russian Retail Growth Fund, which has exited partially from the delivery company as a stakeholder. Elbrus managing partner Dmitri Krukov led the transaction for the buyer, while Svarog was… Continue Reading
Mail.ru early investor adds $75 Mln to IMI.VC
IMI.VC, the investment company founded by Igor Matsanyuk, has bagged USD 75 mln from one of the early investors in Mail.ru – Mikhail Vinchel. Along with Gregory Finger, another Mail.ru investor in the early stage, the three form the board of directors for IMI.VC. Social gaming player Game Insight and Farminers (mobile incubator) are products of the… Continue Reading
Softline Goes Mobile with Apps4All Russia
Softline Venture Partners have made their first investment in the mobile applications sector with a USD 500,000 equity purchase in Apps4All, a Russian platform where mobile app developers can participate in training, events, research and other activities along with their peers in the industry. In 2011, Softline made investments in the range of USD 100,000 to USD… Continue Reading
Grishin Robotics Invests $250,000 Into the RobotAppStore
Grishin Robotics, the personal robotics fund kickstarted by Mail.Ru Group co-founder and CEO Dmitry Grishin, has pumped $250,000 into RobotAppStore, an open, online marketplace for robotics applications. The investment firm had earlier backed Y Combinator graduate Double Robotics with the exact same amount. In both cases, detailed terms of the deal were not disclosed. RobotAppStore… Continue Reading
Fastlane Ventures booster of startups gets Kazakh tycoon Rakishev on board
By Andrei Skvarsky. Fastlane Ventures, a Moscow-based venture capital firm specialising in support for startup Web businesses, has given a seat on its board to Kenges Rakishev, a Kazakh tycoon and high-profile international technology industry investor. Fastlane received a $13m investment from Rakishev, according to a statement from the company, which takes about 50 days… Continue Reading
VTB Capital issues Micex index-linked ruble bonds
Moscow-based VTB Capital has issued ruble bonds to a total of one billion rubles ($32m) linked to the Micex index. International rating agency Moody’s has assigned a rating of Baa1 to the bonds, which have a tenor of a little more than a year and have been put on sale at Moscow’s Micex stock exchange.… Continue Reading
VTB pulls off $107.1m securitisation deal with Investtradebank
VTB Capital has pulled off a 3.3bn-ruble ($107.1m) deal to securitise a mortgage portfolio for Investtradebank, a Moscow-based lender also known as Investtorgbank. The senior tranche of the mortgage securities, placed on Moscow stock exchange Micex by open tender, is expected to raise about 2.4bn rubles ($77.8m) for Investtradebank, according to a statement from the… Continue Reading
Elbrus Capital Has Invested in SPSR-Express
Russia and CIS-focused private equity firm Elbrus Capital has invested in Russian express delivery service SPSR-Express. As part of the transaction, Elbrus will acquire a portion of the stake currently held by the Russian Retail Growth Fund, which is managed by Russian private equity firm Svarog Capital Advisors. The transaction marks Elbrus’s first investment from… Continue Reading
Ukraine agribusiness co-owned by RenCap hires CFO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Ukrainian Agrarian Investments (UAI), a major Ukrainian farming business co-founded and co-owned by Russia’s Renaissance Capital, has hired Alexandre Joseph from French agricultural company AgroGeneration as chief financial officer. A statement from RenCap, which is currently selling out to billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group. credits Joseph, who will be based in Kyiv, with… Continue Reading
Kazakh oil pipeline aims to raise $199 mln in IPO
Kazakhstan’s oil pipeline monopoly KazTransOil plans to raise 30 billion tenge ($199 million) via an initial public offer (IPO) as part of the Central Asian nation’s “People’s IPO” programme, a senior sovereign wealth fund official said on Friday. The oil-rich country’s government plans to invigorate the small local stock market and raise around $500 million… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BrokerCreditService makes one more research hire
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService has made yet another addition to its research team by hiring Anna Kurbatova from Gazprombank as senior telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) analyst. Kurbatova will be based in Moscow and took up her BrokerCreditService job on Monday, Luis Saenz, the London-based head of equity and derivatives sales and trading… Continue Reading
Sberbank CIB lends $1bn to Belarus fertilizer producer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, the newly set-up corporate and investment arm of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has extended a three-year $1bn loan to Belarussian potash fertilizer producer Belaruskali. The purpose of the loan is to enable Belaruskali to refinance a one-year $1bn syndicated bridge loan received by it from Sberbank and Eurasian Development Bank… Continue Reading
Sberbank, Gazprombank, ING, UniCredit extend syndicated loan to Ukraine firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Sberbank CIB and Gazprombank, the Netherlands’ ING Bank and Italy’s UniCredit have provided a syndicated credit line to a total of 416m for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy company. Sberbank is represented in the deal by Sberbank CIB, a former division of Troika Dialog that has become a corporate and investment unit of… Continue Reading
Sberbank strikes loan deal with Russian railways monopoly
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, a unit of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and a former division of Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog, has opened short-term credit lines to a total of 50bn rubles ($1.62bn) for Russian railways monopoly RZD. The loan aims to “allow [RZD] to alleviate its short-term financing needs with the goal of more… Continue Reading
Horizon Capital and FMO Invest into Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Company Biofarma
Horizon Capital, regional private equity fund manager, and FMO, the Dutch development bank, announced today their acquisition of a stake in Biofarma, a leading Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer. The capital will be used to construct a modern plant in Kyiv region. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Biofarma is a top 10 Ukrainian… Continue Reading