By Andrei Skvarsky. A banking syndicate led by French bank Natixis has lent an Italian company about €82m ($92m) for building what would be the first-ever offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea. Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
Credit Bank of Moscow offers interest on overnight deposits to corporate clients
By Andrei Skvarsky. Money deposited by a company or another corporate client at Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) at the end of any business day returns to the depositor with interest by 11am on the next business day via a new online service. Continue Reading
Payger, Net Element clinch deal said to offer shoppers new crypto payment facilities
By Andrei Skvarsky. Electronic payments companies Payger and Net Element, the former based in Munich and the latter in Miami, announced a partnership deal last week that, according to the two firms, offers retail shoppers wider opportunities to pay in cryptocurrencies. Continue Reading
Five businessmen selected for Senegal seed accelerator course
By Andrei Skvarsky. Five young entrepreneurs have been selected for a six-month seed accelerator programme in Senegal due to pioneering farming practices proposed by them. Continue Reading
Natixis becomes owner of Titres Cadeaux multi-brand gift voucher operator via deal with La Banque Postale
By Andrei Skvarsky. French investment bank Natixis has become the sole owner of Titres Cadeaux, which is also known as Titres Cado and is France’s fourth-biggest gift voucher operator, after buying a 50 per cent stake in it from La Banque Postale, a subsidiary of French postal service company La Poste. Continue Reading
Five firms to leave Russia’s forex market in cleanup by regulator
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s central bank has stricken off five Russian foreign exchange companies with effect from January 27 for “repeated offences” against securities law. Continue Reading
NGO says has launched new cryptocurrency, afro, to boost growth in Africa
By Andrei Skvarsky. A Geneva-based nongovernmental organisation has announced it has launched a cryptocurrency, called the afro, that is purportedly designed to promote economic growth and financial inclusion in Africa. Continue Reading
PDM loan supports buyout of healthcare consultancy Validant by GHO Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based debt investor Permira Debt Managers (PDM) is acting as sole senior secured lender to Validant, an international healthcare consultancy focused on regulation and compliance. Continue Reading
PDM loan helps media tech company Deltatre refinance debt, buy out software firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debt investor Permira Debt Managers (PDM) has continued its strategic line of investing in technology-focused companies by making a loan recently to global sports media technology firm Deltatre to help it to refinance a debt and support its buyout of a software company. Continue Reading
Sberbank mulling over change of name – CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CEO Herman Gref on December 11 confirmed rumours that the giant Russian banking group is considering renaming itself by keeping the word “bank” out of the group name though it would still have the word in the name of its purely financial unit. Continue Reading
Russia business training programme co-run by Sberbank, Google brings together 400,000
By Andrei Skvarsky. About 400,000 Russians have finished or are currently taking five-month free online business courses for small enterprises and would-be entrepreneurs that are co-run and co-sponsored by Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and Google. Continue Reading
PDM makes refinancing loan to French software firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based debt investor Permira Debt Managers (PDM) is currently making a debt refinancing loan to DL Software, a French software publisher for small and medium-sized businesses. Continue Reading
Sberbank to study blockchain more before adopting it – CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, is researching blockchain technology but still does not use it in practice, CEO Herman Gref said this week. Continue Reading
Arab development bank acquires stake in African multilateral lender
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), an institution owned by 18 Arab countries, has acquired a stake in the multinational Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB). Continue Reading
Deals worth billions of dollars made during 53-nation Africa Investment Forum
By Andrei Skvarsky. Billions of dollars’ worth of deals were clinched during Africa Investment Forum, an event in Johannesburg on November 7-9 that brought together more than 1,000 people from 53 countries, including 23 non-African states, African Development Bank (AfDB) said. Continue Reading
Brock Pierce to be among 60 speakers at 4-day blockchain forum in Hollywood in December
High-profile cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce will be the keynote speaker at the planned BWC South blockchain educational conference in Hollywood on December 2-5, which will hear about 60 other speakers and have a range of networking and entertainment activities on its programme. Continue Reading
Sberbank, S. Korea’s Hyosung set up R&D centre to create ‘next-generation ATM’
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and South Korean industrial conglomerate Hyosung have set up a research and development centre in Russia to modernise Sberbank’s network of cash recycling ATMs, machines that can take deposits as well as dispense cash. Continue Reading
World Blockchain Forum in New York to bring together over 150 firms
More than 150 companies are going to take part in the 4th World Blockchain Forum (WBF), a conference in New York on November 8-9, 2018, that will take up issues such as blockchain finance, cryptocurrencies and token economics. Continue Reading
Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, UBS, RenCap, Sova, Wood organising IPO for Belarus grocery chain
By Andrei Skvarsky. Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan Securities are acting as joint global coordinators for a planned initial public offering of shares (IPO) next month by Eurotorg, the largest grocery retailer in Belarus. Continue Reading
PDM provides Trilantic Europe with loan for buying out talent management firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debt investor Permira Debt Managers (PDM) has provided private equity firm Trilantic Europe with a loan for the acquisition of YM&U, a talent management company that was formerly called James Grant Group but was renamed during a rebranding simultaneous with the buyout. Continue Reading
Sberbank launches Russia’s first ETF
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, the biggest Russian lender, has launched the first Russian exchange-traded fund with the ETF beginning to trade on Moscow Exchange on September 17, the bank and exchange have announced. Continue Reading
Russian startup among MIT-based accelerator’s selectees for course
By Andrei Skvarsky. Button Blockchain Technologies, a Russian-staffed but US-domiciled startup developing a cryptocurrency wallet for retail users and corporate blockchain solutions, was among firms selected by an accelerator based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a class that ran last month. Continue Reading
Sberbank joined by Silicon Valley accelerator to look for promising Russian startups
By Andrei Skvarsky. Silicon Valley-based accelerator 500 Startups has joined Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank in a programme to finance and promote Russian tech startups. Continue Reading
Permira provides loan to support Inflexion/Bollington Wilson union
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based private debt company Permira Debt Managers (PDM) has acted as the sole senior secured lender to support partnership between two British companies, private equity firm Inflexion and insurance broker Bollington Wilson, which was bought out by Inflexion several months ago. Continue Reading
S. African blockchain startup wins MIT/Mastercard Foundation prize for financial inclusion
By Andrei Skvarsky. South African startup Wala, which runs a blockchain platform for instant micro-payments, has won a $100,000 prize for “innovation in financial inclusion” from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Mastercard Foundation. Continue Reading
Brochure released with full agenda of Connected Claims Europe forum
The organisers of the Connected Claims Europe conference in London on October 29-30 have released a brochure with the complete agenda and speaker line-up for the forum, which is going to deal with the re-engineering of claims, innovative technologies and other key issues. Continue Reading
Tolar sells blockchain licence to Bahrain govt
By Andrei Skvarsky. Tolar, a one-year-old blockchain and cryptocurrency developer group based in ex-Yugoslav states, has signed a deal licencing the Bahraini government to use an advanced technology based on its flagship blockchain project. Continue Reading
Sberbank to integrate investment arm with corporate business unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has announced it will integrate its investment arm, Sberbank CIB, with its Corporate Business unit. Continue Reading
Tangier royal event guests include head of bank that has funded much of Morocco economy
By Andrei Skvarsky. The guests at a July 30 ceremony in Tangier celebrating Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s 19th anniversary of enthronement included the chief of the African Development Bank (AfDB), which has put more than $10bn into the Maghreb country’s economy over the past half-century. Continue Reading