By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based investment adviser CFC Management has confirmed that its clients who together own a stake of about 3.6 per cent in copper producer Kaz Minerals intend to vote against the acquisition price offered for the London-listed copper miner by investment consortium Nova Resources. In following CFC advice, the owners of the 3.6… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Deals
ENLARGED: Debex launches debut online delinquent debt auction in Spain
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debex, an international company running online auctions for delinquent debts, has launched trading in Spain with the debt portfolio of Spanish microlender Prestamer being its first sale. Debex credits its trading with quickness, efficiency and convenience for clients. A buyer can get acquainted with a debt portfolio before it is put on… Continue Reading
Sberbank to be sole owner of Russia’s Cetelem Bank via deal with BNP Paribas
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank is going to become the sole owner of Russia’s Cetelem Bank, the country’s number one car loan provider, by enlarging its capital in the firm to 100 per cent under an agreement with BNP Paribas that awaits regulatory approval in Russia and France. Under the terms of the… Continue Reading
Sberbank, UAE’s Mubadala clinch cooperation deal
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and Abu Dhabi state investment fund Mubadala have signed an agreement to collaborate in multiple fields, including investment, Islamic finance, venture capital and risk hedging. Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, natural science, telemedicine and education are among areas where the Russian bank and United Arab Emirates company are going to join… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Sova Capital offers trading in Saudi forwards
Sova Capital, a London-headquartered emerging markets brokerage, has announced it is now offering trading in forward contracts linked to equities listed on the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange. Sova already conducts global trading in securities from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey and other emerging markets on behalf of institutional clients.… Continue Reading
Unicorn PE firm to find strategic investor for Russian drug company
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based private equity firm Unicorn has announced it has been hired by a Russian pharmaceutical company to find a strategic investor for it. Unicorn’s client in the project is Mosfarm, a company headquartered in the Moscow region and one of Russia’s largest manufacturers of infusion solutions. Unicorn, whose business is focused on Russian… Continue Reading
Moorgate Capital acts as exclusive financial adviser in UK firm’s buyout of food wholesaler
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based Moorgate Capital has acted as the exclusive financial adviser to British firm Lioncroft Holdings in acquiring 200m-euro ($225m) food and beverage wholesaler Lioncroft Wholesale (trading as East End Wholesale Stores) in a deal completed on June 30. Lioncroft Holdings bought Lioncroft Wholesale from East End Foods, one of Britain’s largest Asian spice,… Continue Reading
Permira Debt Managers prices new CLO at $225.5m
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based debt investors Permira Debt Managers (PDM) has set the price for the Providus IV collateralised loan obligation, the fourth CLO in its Providus series, at 207.6m euros ($225.5m). Just as the previous Providus CLOs, Providus IV has environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards among its eligibility criteria, which puts restrictions on… Continue Reading
US fund Princeville Capital provides Russian e-retailer with $50m convertible loan
By Andrei Skvarsky. US investment fund Princeville Capital has provided Russian online retailer Ozon with a $50m loan convertible into equity. The money came as part of a round of financing in which Ozon also received convertible loans totalling $100m from its main stakeholders Sistema and Baring Vostok, according to an Ozon statement. Sistema, which… Continue Reading
Russian conglomerate Sistema boosts share in Ozon retailer to 43%
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian conglomerate Sistema has enlarged its direct stake in Russian online retailer Ozon to 31.3 per cent from 21.9 per cent by converting earlier loans, with its total interest in Ozon swelling to 43 per cent as a result. The loans were made in 2019. In 2019, Sistema and the Baring Vostok… Continue Reading
Da Vinci Capital passes control of Global Fintech Solutions to Prytek
By Andrei Skvarsky. Guernsey-based private equity company Da Vinci Capital has sold a majority stake in software developer Global Fintech Solutions (GFS) to the Prytek investment firm in what has been described as “one of the fastest exits” in Da Vinci’s history. According to a joint statement from Da Vinci and Prytek, the sale makes… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley’s Fort Ross invests in Kryon to promote business automation in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Silicon Valley-based Russia-focused company Fort Ross Ventures has made an investment in multinational technology firm Kryon that is expected to boost the use of its automation solutions by Russian businesses. Kryon has developed a platform that comprises process discovery and robotic process automation (RPA) tools. The platform is used by companies including… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank carries out big promo campaign, sells bonds worth $26.8m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of an annual promotion campaign by Sberbank last month which, besides a bunch of special offers, enabled Russia’s biggest lender to sell bonds worth 1.71bn roubles ($26.8m). There were offers in a wide range of services, including medical treatment, tour operating, car sales and taxi… Continue Reading
One of Inflexion’s portfolio firms makes five buyouts in November
By Andrei Skvarsky. British investment company Inflexion Private Equity has announced that its portfolio company Radius Payment Solutions, a fuel card manager, made five acquisitions in November. Inflexion owns a minority stake in Radius, which is based in Britain and has offices in various parts of Europe. Radius’s five acquisitions are two vehicle tracking companies,… Continue Reading
Germany pledges 20m-euro soft loan to Namibia to support SMEs, rural families
By Andrei Skvarsky. The German government has pledged a concessional loan of 325m Namibian dollars (20m euros) to Namibia under a November 15 agreement to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and rural and remotely-located households in the African country. The money would be provided by German state-owned development bank KfW to Namibian national postal… Continue Reading
PDM loan helps Equistone buy out service provider for cancer patients
By Andrei Skvarsky. A loan from debt investor Permira Debt Managers (PDM) has helped private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe to acquire Omnicare, a German provider of oncological services and cancer drugs. PDM-advised funds acted as senior secured lender in the buyout project, the London-headquartered debt investment company said in a statement. Most of Equistone’s… Continue Reading
Telco forum to mull buyouts in Africa as ways to boost profits
By Andrei Skvarsky. Numerous telecommunications companies are getting together for an Africa-focused conference late this month to discuss the future of buyouts in Africa’s financial technology sector and other industries in the continent as potential ways of making higher profits. TMT Finance Africa 2019, to be held in London on November 28, is expected to… Continue Reading
Sberbank to buy minority stake in MFT tech firm from Gazprombank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has signed a preliminary non-binding deal to buy a minority stake in Russian digital projects specialist MF Tekhnologii (MFT) from Gazprombank, another major Russian lender. MFT is a joint venture set up in June 2018 by Gazprombank, oligarch Alisher Usmanov’s USM Holdings, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon, and… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sovcombank sells 85 pc of debut Eurobond to European, US, Asian investors
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Sovcombank debuted in the global debt market this month with its first-ever Eurobond issue, 85 per cent of which was sold to European, US and Asian banks and investment firms with total demand that exceeded the bonds’ combined face value by more than one-third. Citi, J.P. Morgan, UBS, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, and… Continue Reading
Marlin announces new investments
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment company Marlin Equity Partners has announced that it has bought out Whitlock, a systems integrator and technology management firm, and that it has made a growth equity investment in regulatory compliance software provider SmartSearch. Marlin, a global company with more than $6.7bn of capital under management, has completed more than 150… Continue Reading
PDM loan helps Bridgepoint buy Qualitest software testing firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Specialist debt investor Permira Debt Managers has enlarged the 150-company list of recipients of its financial support by lending to private equity group Bridgepoint to help it to buy out software testing company Qualitest. PDM’s Permira Credit Solutions Fund acted as senior secured lender in providing Bridgepoint with a loan that enabled… Continue Reading
Thomson Reuters acquires FC Business Intelligence
Thomson Reuters has announced it has acquired FC Business Intelligence (FCBI), a global business-to-business events specialist, which will now be rebranded Reuters Events and operated as part of the Reuters News division of the world’s largest multimedia news provider. FCBI, which is based in London, organises conferences and exhibitions for diverse sectors including insurance, energy,… Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Lev Khasis confirmed as Rambler chair after stake purchase
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank first deputy CEO Lev Khasis has been confirmed as chairman of the board of directors of Rambler Group after the latter became Russia’s largest media and entertainment company by selling nearly half its capital to the country’s biggest lender. Khasis, who keeps his Sberbank position, will have a one-year stint as… Continue Reading
Sberbank becomes major player in Russian media market by buying into Rambler
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s largest lender Sberbank has taken ownership of a 46.5 per cent stake in media company Rambler Group in closing a deal that has given birth to Russia’s biggest media and entertainment company. Investment holding company A&NN now owns a stake of the same size as Sberbank’s in Rambler, which runs one… Continue Reading
Gazprombank, Credit Bank of Moscow arrange syndicated loan for Belarus food retailer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Major Russian lenders Gazprombank and Credit Bank of Moscow have arranged the first-ever syndicated loan for a Belarussian private company, an eight-year facility of 3.5bn Russian roubles ($52.5m) for Eurotorg, Belarus’s biggest food retailer. The two banks were also the main lenders in the syndicate. The terms of the loan deal allow… Continue Reading
Permira Debt Managers loan helps Germany’s Emeram invest in high-profile IT firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. A loan from London-based debt investment company Permira Debt Managers has helped German private equity firm Emeram Capital Partners to make an investment in ]init[, a German provider of information technology services, mainly for public sector institutions. Funds managed by PDM have acted as the sole senior lender in a syndicated loan… Continue Reading
Sberbank, Belarus Development Bank to help fund Belarus’s foreign trade
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has promised loans to help finance foreign trade in Belarus under a recent agreement between Russia’s biggest lender and the Belarussian Development Bank. “Creating a maximum range of instruments for financing foreign trade contracts for Belarussian enterprises … is one of the key objectives of the presence of the [Development] Bank… Continue Reading
Commercial Bank of Dubai, Xpress Money sign deal to facilitate cross-border remittances
By Andrei Skvarsky. Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) has signed a deal with Xpress Money, a brand of United Arab Emirates-based payments and foreign exchange company Finablr, to facilitate and speed up remittances from the UAE to Pakistan and the Philippines for CBD clients. The system to be launched by the agreement would enable a… Continue Reading
National Bank of Oman seeks $300m syndicated loan, mandates Bank ABC, Emirates NBD to arrange it
By Andrei Skvarsky. National Bank of Oman (NBO), one of Oman’s largest banks, has mandated Bahrain-headquartered Bank ABC and Dubai’s biggest lender Emirates NBD to arrange a $300m syndicated loan for it. The loan would have three years’ maturity, according to a statement from Emirates NBD. The statement said the consortium that would provide the… Continue Reading