The RTS Index, one of Moscow Exchange’s two main stock market benchmarks, celebrates its 20th birthday on September 1. Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
EXCLUSIVE: B2B firm Uppler doing business in 150 countries a year after birth
By Andrei Skvarsky. Business-to-business (B2B) deals are a fast-growing market, and B2B company Uppler, set up by three young Frenchmen in Tel Aviv a year ago has been able to extend its multi-industry business to more than 150 countries. The entire personnel of the dot-com firm are about a dozen people one of whom works… Continue Reading
Dubai’s Morison Menon audit firm wins Superbrand status for 2nd year running
By Andrei Skvarsky. Dubai-based audit firm and business consultancy Morison Menon has for the second consecutive year been named as a top brand by a highly reputed international branding arbitration group. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital Newsletter – Country Snapshot: Iran
In July 2015, the AFC Asia Frontier Fund gained +1.1%, underperforming the MSCI Frontier Asia Index (+4.3%) and the MSCI World Index (+1.7%) and outperforming the MSCI Frontier Index (-3.1%). The year to date performance of the AFC Asia Frontier Fund A-shares stands now at +2.1% versus the MSCI Frontier Asia Index which is up… Continue Reading
Lamudi real estate dot-com firm launches business in UAE
By Andrei Skvarsky. Lamudi, a two-year-old real estate dot-com company doing business in more than 30 emerging- and frontier-market countries, announced on August 10 that it has launched an operation in the United Arab Emirates. Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange reports net profit rise of 72.8%
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow Exchange said that its earnings boomed in the second quarter of 2015, and that this included a year-on-year net profit increase of 72.8%. Continue Reading
News release from Canrim Development
Canrim Development Pte Ltd. is a resource development company established by a team with a successful Mongolian business track record, operating in the Mongolian resources sector since 1997. Designed as a vehicle to re-enter the Mongolian resource industry in early 2014, Canrim is positioning for resurgence in minerals exploration activity in the country. In mineral… Continue Reading
Sberbank, Tinkoff among 1st-round winners of Global Finance digital banking contest
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and online retail bank Tinkoff were among the first-round winners in the 2015 World’s Best Digital Banks competition held annually by Global Finance, the famous New York-based monthly. Continue Reading
Standard Chartered’s Pakistan subsidiary gets over first hurdle in Islamic banks contest
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Pakistani subsidiary of Britain’s Standard Chartered was among the winners of the first round of Global Finance’s debut contest for Islamic banks as part of the famous financial periodical’s annual competition for the title of the world’s best digital bank. Continue Reading
Baring Vostok lead investor in $40m funding for Russian car broker
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Baring Vostok private equity firm was the biggest investor in a recent new round of funding for CarPrice in which $40m was raised for the Russian online used-car broker. Continue Reading
New Russian fund to invest $2m in B2B solutions in 2015
By Andrei Skvarsky. Two Russian entrepreneurs have launched a venture fund that plans to invest $2m before the end of 2015 in up to five projects to develop solutions for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, according to international information company East-West Digital News (EWDN). Continue Reading
Russian central bank cuts key rate to 11%, says economy may cool off
Russia’s central bank on July 31 cut its key interest rate to 11% from 11.5%, arguing that economic cooling is a greater risk than inflation. Continue Reading
Bank of Cyprus selling subsidiary Uniastrum to cut exposure to Russia
Bank of Cyprus said on July 17 that it had signed an agreement to sell off its Russian subsidiary Uniastrum Bank as part of a plan to reduce the biggest Cypriot lender’s exposure to Russia. Continue Reading
GUEST ARTICLE: A Visual Guide to Colombia’s Surging Economy
By Michael Johnston, senior analyst for All Emerging Markets (www.allemergingmarkets.com). Emerging from a dark history, Colombia has become the economic gem of South America. In the minds of many Americans, Colombia is a lawless country with an economy built around a violent drug trade. In reality, however, Colombia has become a model for economic transformation and is perhaps South… Continue Reading
Wikistrat: Debt woes unlikely to push Greece into Russia's arms
By Andrei Skvarsky. It is a natural thought that Greece’s financial woes might force Athens to step up its attempts to obtain help from Russia. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital Newsletter – Country Snapshot: Vietnam
Since the introduction of market reforms that opened up the country to foreign investment in the late 1980s, Vietnam has become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, averaging annual GDP growth rates of 7-8% throughout the nineties. Agribusiness production has nearly doubled over the past two decades, transforming Vietnam into one of the… Continue Reading
Duet Group To Launch Emerging European UCITS Fund With Two Former Armajaro Execs
Alternative asset manager Duet Group is launching a new emerging European UCITS fund this month and has recruited two former Armajaro Asset Management executives to run it. Michel Danechi and Kalim Aziz are joining Duet as fund manager and research analyst, respectively, on the Duet Emerging European European Fund. The new vehicle is expected later… Continue Reading
Verde: Foreign Investors Overly Optimistic on Brazil's Economy
In a monthly letter to clients, Brazil’s largest hedge fund, Verde Asset Management, said that foreign investors’ were overly optimistic about its home nation’s economy. Saying that foreign investors’ had “exagerated optimism,” the firm said that the sentiment was “disconnected from medium-term reality.” The fund said cautioned investors about the nation’s financial outlook, and said… Continue Reading
AXA IM Mergers Asian, EM Debt Teams into Single Global Emerging Debt Unit
AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has restructured its emerging market debt team as Damien Buchet’s August departure from the firm nears. AXA IM will merge its emerging market and Asian teams into one group to better address the importance of the global emerging market debt asset class to investors in the future. The newly merged… Continue Reading
Asian Hedge Fund Assets Hit Record, Top $177 Billion
Assets under management at Asian hedge funds reached a record $177 billion in May, according to new data from Eurekahedge. The tally exceeds the $176 billion managed by funds with an Asia mandate in December 2007, immediately prior the global financial crisis, noted Eurekahedge’s Alexander Mearns in an interview with Bloomberg. The news comes as… Continue Reading
Oceanwood Raises $250M Fund For Bets on European Economic Recovery
Oceanwood Capital Management has raised $250 million in a new hedge fund to capitalize on economic recovery in Europe. Oceanwood has raised the capital from existing investors and plans to have a $350 million final close for the fund in September, according to a Reuters report. The new fund, named Oceanwood Peripheral European Select Opportunities… Continue Reading
Torbjorn Caesar Takes Helm At EM Fund Actis Capital
Torbjorn Caesar has been elected senior partner at emerging markets investment manager Actis Capital. Caesar assumed his new role effective yesterday, according to media reports. He succeeds Paul Fletcher, who has become non-executive chairman of the company. “I would like to thank Paul for the tremendous leadership he has provided to Actis over the past… Continue Reading
Russian hedge funds surge on oil, rouble gains
Emerging markets hedge funds have benefited from the strong recovery of the Russian Rouble, higher oil prices, lowering of interest rates by the Chinese Central Bank, and a surge in trading volume on the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program. As a result of these, hedge funds investing in Russia and China posted strong gains in… Continue Reading
Pelham Capital's Martin Starting New Long/Short Fund
Daniel Martin is planning to launch a new long/short hedge fund based in London. The new effort, named Rye Bay Capital, will take long and short positions in a number of instruments across a variety of industries, according to a Bloomberg report. The new fund will reportedly launch in the fourth quarter of this year.… Continue Reading
Wong to Launch Long/Short Asian Equity Fund
Former TPG-Axon partner Wesley Wong is prepping an Asian-themed long/short equity fund for a third-quarter 2015 launch. Wong’s Oxbow Capital Management (HK) is reportedly in advanced discussions with Reservoir Capital Management regarding a $150 million stake, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources. It would be Reservoir’s first seed investment in an Asian-based startup,… Continue Reading
GSAM Launches Global Long/Short Equity UCITS Sub-Fund
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is offering a new high-conviction global equity portfolio to European clients. Managed by the company’s Goldman Sachs Investment Strategies team (GSIS), the Global Equity Long Short Portfolio is based on a fundamental, bottom-up approach and structured as a new sub-fund of the firm’s UCITS-compliant, Luxembourg-domiciled Goldman Sachs Funds SICAV, according to… Continue Reading
Lamudi becomes Philippines property market leader after acquiring MyProperty.ph
Lamudi, a real estate portal with an emerging- and frontier-market network covering more than 30 countries, has gained the leading position in the Philippine’s property market by acquiring the country’s online real estate trader MyProperty.ph. Continue Reading
Jupiter Launches Asian Income Strategy With New Hire
Jupiter Asset Management has hired Jason Pidcock to build an Asian income strategy for the investment firm. Pidcock joins Jupiter from Newton Investment Management, where he is manager of the £4.4 billion Newton Asian Income Fund. He will aid Jupiter in the launch and management of a similar strategy. The appointment will help Jupiter expand… Continue Reading
Carlyle Raises €565M For Third European Technology Buyout Fund
Global alternative investments powerhouse Carlyle Group has closed on its third European technology and media buyout fund, raising €656 million. It is the company’s largest such fund to date. The fund, named Carlyle Europe Technology Partners III, shows the global appetite for tech and media companies in the region. It began raising money a year… Continue Reading