By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Invest AD investment management firm have signed a preliminary deal on “strategic” cooperation in asset management in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Middle East, Sberbank said. Continue Reading
Category Archives: Deals
Streaming music startup Bloom.fm shuts down after Russia investor pulls out
As reported by Guardian, streaming music service Bloom.fm, app with more than 1.1m registered users in the UK alone, has shut down after its main investor pulled out suddenly. Continue Reading
Qiwi top executives make $30m and entrepreneurial experience available to Russian start-ups
In late April Andrei Romanenko, a top executive at Russian payment giant Qiwi, announced the launch of Run Capital, a venture fund targeting Russian tech start-ups at the pre-seed and seed stages. {{{?}}} The $30m fund will able to provide young Russian entrepreneurs with much more than just financial support, East-West Digital News, the first… Continue Reading
EBRD steps up lending to Ukraine as part of international support package
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is significantly increasing its public sector lending in Ukraine as it joins in the response of the international community to support the Ukrainian economy. {{{?}}} In a project financed together with the European Investment Bank, the EBRD is providing a €200 million loan to finance the modernisation… Continue Reading
Sberbank CIB opens second RUB 6.8 bln line of credit for INTECO Group
{{{?}}} Sberbank CIB1 has signed an agreement with INTECO Group on the financing of construction of the 146,000 sq. m “Liner – Zapad” Multifunctional Complex in the Khodynskoe Polye neighbourhood. This line of credit totals RUB 6.8 bln. The agreement was signed for a period of 4.5 years. On behalf of Sberbank CIB this deal was structured… Continue Reading
EBRD channels $40 million to support Ukrainian grain farmers
{{{?}}} The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is once again demonstrating its commitment to Ukraine’s agribusiness sector, which received over €160 million from the Bank in 2013 alone. The EBRD is providing a loan of up to US$ 40 million to over 30 farms and elevators across Ukraine owned by NCH New Europe… Continue Reading
Sberbank CIB’s 2013 trade finance, documentary deals worth $43.5bn
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, the investment arm of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has announced it carried through “record” numbers of trade finance and documentary operations in 2013, putting the total volume of the deals at $43.5bn. {{{?}}} The investment firm said in a statement its documentary operations topped the $33bn mark last year, with… Continue Reading
VTB Capital raises $95.2m by selling stake in IT firm on NYSE
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s VTB Capital has raised $95.2m by selling its stake in Russian software development and IT outsourcing company Luxoft in a secondary public offering (SPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in which the Moscow-based bank was one of the bookrunners. {{{?}}} The offering was more than three times oversubscribed and attracted… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank selling Russian subsidiary to Aton
By Andrei Skvarsky. Deutsche Bank has agreed to sell its Russian subsidiary Deutsche UFG Capital Management (DUCM) to Russian investment group Aton in what would purportedly make the latter one of Russia’s biggest asset managers. {{{?}}} The deal, which needs approval from Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service, would make Aton the 100% owner of DUCM, an… Continue Reading
NASDAQ, Moscow Exchange sign deal to help Russian start-ups
By Andrei Skvarsky. NASDAQ and Moscow Exchange have clinched a deal to join forces in helping Russian high-tech start-ups to get listed on the two bourses. {{{?}}} The two exchanges are to co-organise conferences, workshops and presentations for innovative companies and international investors under the agreement, the Moscow bourse said in a statement. The deal… Continue Reading
Russia’s Nomos bank carries out successful SPO on Moscow Exchange
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Nomos banking group, one of Russia’s largest private lenders, carried through a successful secondary public offering of shares on Moscow Exchange last week, raising 19.08bn rubles ($600m) by selling all the securities it offered. {{{?}}} Gazprombank and Otkritie Capital co-organised the SPO. Demand exceeded supply, with Nomos giving priority to major… Continue Reading
London’s Oracle Capital takes control of Moscow’s Third Rome
By Andrei Skvarsky. Oracle Capital Group, a global multi-family office and wealth consultancy, has bought a blocking stake in Third Rome, a Moscow-based wealth manager. {{{?}}} “Third Rome will continue to operate under the Third Rome Group name and brand as a self-managed group of companies. In cooperation with Oracle Capital Group, Third Rome will… Continue Reading
Sberbank increases majority stake in venture with BNP Paribas
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has enlarged to 74% from 70% its stake in Cetelem Bank, its Russian retail joint venture with BNP Paribas. The increase marks the closure of a deal between Sberbank and BNP Paribas Personal Finance, the French bank’s retail unit, announced in July. Sberbank is currently transferring its car… Continue Reading
Japan govt lending Sberbank $600m to pay for imports
By Andrei Skvarsky. Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), is to provide Sberbank, Russia’s top lender, with a series of long-term loans to a total of $600m to finance Russian imports of goods and services from Japan under an agreement signed last week. “We have been working with JBIC for a few years already and… Continue Reading
Sberbank becomes agent of $750m syndicated loan for Ukraine govt
Russia’s Sberbank became the underwriter of a recent $750m syndicated loan for Ukraine’s government. “This is the first time that Sberbank has provided a loan to Ukraine and therefore is an important step towards future cooperation,” the biggest Russian lender’s investment arm Sberbank CIB said in a statement. Sberbank CIB was the loan’s technical organiser. Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Turkish arm plugged into MoneyGram network
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank’s Turkish operation Denizbank is expected to become the biggest Turkish agent for global money transfer company MoneyGram under a recent agreement. {{{?}}} The deal plugged one of Turkey’s top lenders into the network of a remittance firm that runs successful business in 198 countries but last year admitted to fraud charges… Continue Reading
EBRD invests in Russian IT outsourcing provider MAYKOR
The EBRD has joined forces with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the CapMan Russia II Fund, a private equity fund in which the Bank is an investor, to support MAYKOR, the leading Russian IT outsourcing and service provider. The three partners will invest up to USD 100 million in a series of stages… Continue Reading
EBRD invests in leading Turkish textile company
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development continues to boost Turkey’s Anatolian regions, making a €3.7 million loan to Kivanc Tekstil, a leading producer of clothing fabrics and yarn based in Adana. Kivanc Tekstil, 100 per cent owned and controlled by the founding family of the same name, has successfully operated in the textile sector for… Continue Reading
Chinese Investors Target London Real Estate
Asian markets with similar cultural backgrounds such as Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are among countries being targeted by Chinese insurance funds that have more than US$14 billion available for overseas real estate investment, according to the latest research report from global property adviser CBRE. {{{?}}} The prime targets are high transparency markets including… Continue Reading
EBRD invests in Turkey's first infrastructure bond
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is supporting Turkey’s first ever infrastructure bond with a US$79.5 million participation in a US$ 450 million Eurobond, launched by Mersin International Port (MIP), the private operator of the port of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast in southern Turkey. The debut bond will be used for refinancing an… Continue Reading
EBRD provides €190 ml loan for wood processor Krasnospan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed two separate long-term loans, which will provide up to €190 million for the construction by Kronospan – a privately held global leader in the wood-based panels market – of new production facilities in Russia and Belarus. Both plants are designed to use low quality wood… Continue Reading
Carlyle asset manager buys out packaging producer Chesapeake
By Andrei Skvarsky. Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has announced it has bought Chesapeake, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of paper-based packaging, from two US-based companies, private equity firm Irving Place Capital and asset manager Oaktree Capital Management. {{{?}}} Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Barclays financed the transaction, Nicholas Mockett, head… Continue Reading
Sberbank pulls off cooperation deal with Gulf’s top-notch NBAD
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and a top bank in the Gulf, National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), have reached an agreement to cooperate in trade financing, loan syndication, client support and investment banking. “Access to new financial markets is an integral part of our international strategy,” a Sberbank statement quoted the Russian… Continue Reading
Macquarie in full control of infrastructure fund as RenCap, Renaissance Group pull out
By Andrei Skvarsky. Macquarie, a global financial services provider, has become the sole manager of a major infrastructure investment fund, an entity it used to co-manage with Renaissance Capital and Renaissance Group. RenCap and Renaissance Group ceded their co-managerial roles to Macquarie under an agreement which, via the takeover of RenCap’s stake, doubled the Australia-based firm’s… Continue Reading
Russia’s Unicorn Capital buys key maker of glass facades
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based buyout fund Unicorn Capital Partners with target capitalisation of $500m has announced its first acquisition, the purchase of controlling interest in Constanta Group, one of Russia’s largest designers and manufacturers of translucent façade systems and other glass products. Unicorn, whose main objective is to buy out undervalued small and medium enterprises… Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange-Deutsche Börse deal allows selling Deutsche Bank shares in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow Exchange and Deutsche Börse have signed an agreement allowing Deutsche Bank, Siemens, BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler shares to be traded at the Moscow bourse as from September this year. The two exchanges picked some of Germany’s most liquid shares for their deal, Moscow Exchange chief executive Alexander Afanasiev said after he… Continue Reading
Sberbank lending $2.2bn to Potanin’s Interros conglomerate
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, the investment arm of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has pledged to open several five-year credit lines to a total of $2.2bn for oligarch Vladimir Potanin’s Interros multi-industrial investment conglomerate. The money will be used to refinance part of Interros’s current loan portfolio and fund some of the projects of the… Continue Reading
CBRE acquired Sogesmaint-CBRE
CBRE Group, the global commercial real estate services and investment firm, today announced that it has acquired full ownership of SOGESMAINT-CBRE, a property and asset management specialist operating in Belgium. CBRE has held a minority interest in the company since 2006. SOGESMAINT-CBRE was established in 1973 and today it is one of the leading property… Continue Reading
EBRD provides €30m for district heating infrastructure in Western Ukraine
The EBRD is continuing its drive to modernise Ukraine’s district heating sector with investments aimed at increased energy and cost efficiency, improved financial sustainability and regulatory reform of municipal utilities. {{{*}}} Its latest project in this sector, in the largest western Ukrainian municipality of Lviv, will consist of an EBRD loan of up to €20… Continue Reading