By Ivan Anderzahnov UK bank Barclays may offload its Russian regional retail banking network to a unit of Renaissance Group. Barclays is in talks about selling 12 regional branches to Renaissance Credit, the consumer finance arm of the investment banking group Renaissance, according to Russian daily Kommersant. The British giant acquired Russian lender Expobank in… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Deals
Gazprom selects Gazprombank and Rencap for $10bn bond sale
By Ivan Anderzhanov Russian gas giant Gazprom has mandated Gazprombank and Renaissance Capital to arrange a 300 billion roubles ($10.24bn)in bonds. Rouble bonds have become popular on the local fixed-income market following the rapid rise of the ruble and as commodity prices have rallied. . Gazprom plans to raise the sum in 13 issues over… Continue Reading
Rencap eyes brokerages acquisitions in Africa
By Marcus Williams Renaissance Capital, the fast growing emerging markets investment bank, is eyeing deals to buys brokerages in “five or six” African countries. Speaking to the Financial Times, its bullish founder Stephen Jennings said the group expected to close deals within the next few months. Rencap is expanding at breakneck speed 18 months after… Continue Reading
Rencap steppes into Mongolia with two tie-ups
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Emerging markets investment bank Renaissance Capital has agreed on alliances with two investment firms in the Central Asian frontier of Mongolia. The bank has signed deals with International Capital Corporation (MICC) and Monet following its recent joint venture agreements in Serbia, India and openings in South Africa and Belarus. In… Continue Reading
Raiffeisen pushes ahead with RZB in spite of fears for shareholders
By Ivan Anderzhanov Management at Raiffeisen International‘s are pushing ahead with a merger with its unlisted Austrian parent RZB despite concern that minority shareholders may lose out in the deal. The bank said they were intensively pursuing a merger, which would be put to shareholders at annual general meetings in July. Analysts have said shareholders,… Continue Reading
Societe Generale merges Rosbank with BSGV in Russia
By Marcus Williams Societe Generale, France’s second largest bank, and its partner Interros today announced they are combining their banking operations in Russia. Rosbank and BSGV, will be merged into a single unit but still retain two separate brands. The new entity will have the specialised mortgage and consumer lending companies Rusfinance and Delta Credit… Continue Reading
Otkritie boosts Investment Banking team
By Marcus Williams Fast-growing Russian brokerage Otkritie has lured Temo Jorbenadze from VTB Capital as head of Investment Banking’s Financing Services Group. Otkritie, which has doubled in size in the last year, also hired Dmitry Perman as a director from the Moscow-based boutique advisory firm Advance Capital. Jorbenadze was a director for investment banking at… Continue Reading
Can Hong Kong dislodge London as the main destination for Russian IPOs ?
By Marcus Williams in London Russian aluminum maker UC Rusal today reportedly raised $2.24 billion from its Hong Kong and Paris initial public offerings, after the company priced the shares around the middle of the range indicated in marketing literature. Bankers said the listing could led to a trickle of further Russian listings in Hong… Continue Reading
Shari Redstone and UFG founder Charlie Ryan to buy Russia theatre chain
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Shari Redstone is partnering with Russian banking veteran Charlie Ryan to acquire Russian theatre operator Rising Star Media from National Amusements, the company controlled by her billionaire father Sumner Redstone. Shari Redstone, co-founder of Rising Star and president of National Amusements, will be chairman of the new entity, while fellow… Continue Reading
Russian Sovereign Bond 'beauty parade' kicks off
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow The Russian government has unveiled a beauty parade of investment banks who will compete to take part in Russia’s first international bond issue in over a decade. Russian investment bank VTB Capital is understood to have secured a role as one of the lead managers, alongside three bulge-bracket banks such… Continue Reading
EBRD boosts Russian banking sector with Promsvyaz deal
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has confirmed it will buy a 11.7 % stake in Russia’s privately-owned PromSvyazBank for 4.6 billion roubles ($159.4m). Reports had been circulating since mid-October the the EBRD would take a minority stake in PromSvyaz. Brothers Alexey and Dmitry Ananiev own almost 85%… Continue Reading
Belgium's KBC to sell Russia's Absolut bank
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Belgian financial group KBC Group is looking to sell Absolut Bank only two years after acquiring its key Russian asset for $1bn. Analysts suggested that the most likely buyer would be another foreign group keen to gain access to the Russian banking sector. KBC needs to slash the size of… Continue Reading
JP Morgan and Alfa lose out as Eurasia Drilling pulls GDR placement
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Russian oil industry services firm Eurasia Drilling yesterday annouced it had cancelled plans to place Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) after bids failed to match its expectations. Investment bankers at JP Morgan and Alfa Bank will lose out having been mandated as joint bookrunners. JP Morgan was also the sole global… Continue Reading
Lukoil mandates Barcap, RBS and ING for $1.5bn Eurobond
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Russian oil giant Lukoil has returned to the debt capital markets for the first time in 18 months yesterday with a bumper $1.5bn Eurobond deal arranged by Barcap, Royal Bank of Scotland and ING. Lukoil priced two tranches of debt, maturing in five and 10 years. The five-year tranche, worth… Continue Reading
EBRD teams up with Kayzna to launch $300m private equity fund
By Jason Corcoran Kazyna Capital Management, the private equity arm of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, is combining with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to set up a $300m vehicle to invest in distressed companies. The fund will focus on financing of companies experiencing problems with repaying their debt. Its main task will… Continue Reading
Standard Bank raises $1bn from Chinese banks for Asian expansion
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Standard Bank, the emerging markets banking group, has raised $1bn loan facility with four major Chinese banks in Macau today. The four banks are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) Limited; Bank of China; China Development Bank and China CITIC Bank. The club deal was self arranged by Standard… Continue Reading
Rencap's $612m Sistema bond mandate takes its recent dealfow over $2bn
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Russia’s Renaissance Capital has been appointed as lead manager and bookrunner for a 20bn rouble bond ($612m) by conglomerate Sistema which caps a string of deals worth over $2bn during the past month. The Sistema rouble bond is the biggest of the year and beats the recent 15 billion ruble… Continue Reading
Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch advise Sistema on $1.27bn Comstar deal
Investment banks Credit Suisse and Merill Lynch have have advised the conglomerate Sistema on the $1.2bn sale of a 50.9% stake in fixed-line telecoms provider Comstar UTS to mobile operator MTS. The deal between the two Sistema subsidiaries is scheduled to close at the end of October, while no decision has been made regarding the… Continue Reading
JP Morgan knocks Troika Dialog off its Russian M&A perch
Western investment bank JP Morgan has knocked Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog off the top M&A adviser perch in Russia during the first half of 2009, according to data provider Mergermarket. JP Morgan has so far advised on three deals with a total value of $6.2bn, while Troika lags in joint 12th position having only advised… Continue Reading
BLOG: VTB Capital targets Gulf's sovereign wealth billions
Jason Cororan in Moscow VTB Capital, the investment banking arm of state-controlled VTB bank, has hired ten staff for its new Dubai operation in a bid to lure sovereign Gulf money to Russia. The bank is attempting to set itself up as a conduit for Middle East sovereign wealth money which might be interested in… Continue Reading
EBRD bolsters Troika as banking system battens down the hatches
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has approved a $150 million five-year loan for Troika Dialog as part of the development bank’s $500m package to buttress Russian banks against a second wave of bad debt, which is expected to peak in two months time. The loan comes three months after South Africa’s Standard Bank… Continue Reading
Hires & Fires: Kandel quits Unicredit as Aton ramps up/ Blackrock parts company with Monoviski
By Taras Rybak in London Alexander Kandel, chief executive and head of investment banking at Italy’s UniCredit Securities in Moscow, is leaving the group just as it is engaged in a battle with Russian bank Aton for its staff. UniCredit said Kandel was leaving shortly for “personal reasons” to take some time out and would… Continue Reading
Renaissance Capital wins first mandate from Prokhorov
Renaissance Capital has come up with an M&A authorization for major shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov since he holds a 50%-minus one share in the bank. RenCap is advising Onexim, (Prokhorov’s investment vehicle); the same company that helped Prokhorov acquire a share in the bank last September on the purchase of 65% share in RBC Information Systems… Continue Reading