Equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners has raised the largest investment fund in Russia totaling $1.5 billion to invest in local internet projects, financial services and the resources industry. Moscow-based Baring Vostok, headed by former banker Michael Calvey, Alexey Kalinin and Elena Ivashentseva, has attracted $1.15 billion for its fifth main fund, Baring Vostok Private… Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
BrokerCreditService makes one more hire from Otkritie
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s BrokerCreditService (BCS) has hired Olga Naydenova from Otkritie as senior financial research analyst in Moscow, recruiting one more in a series of bankers and analysts who have come over from the rival Russian broker over the past several months. Naydenova took up her BCS job today, Luis Saenz, the London-based head… Continue Reading
Raiffeisen, Sberbank co-run Eurasian Development Bank’s Eurobond sale
By Andrei Skvarsky. Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Sberbank CIB, a former unit of Troika Dialog, co-managed the recent successful sale of the Russian ruble-denominated Eurobonds by Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), an international institution set up by the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan. The five-year securities with maximum 8% yields made up what was the first-ever… Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-Merrill banker in boosting investment team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, a former Troika Dialog division, has hired Vlada Gosal from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) as managing director for debt capital markets in building out an investment banking platform for parent firm Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Gosal took up her new role on Monday, according to a statement from Troika,… Continue Reading
GOLDMAN SACHS COMMENT: Some Questions for the Asian Economic Century
By Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. I returned from a quick trip through parts of Asia on Saturday, thinking that we have reached a critical stage in terms of economic policy and development in many parts of that region, especially in terms of whether this century will turn out to be “theirs” in… Continue Reading
BlackRock buys stake in Micex-RTS with RDIF support
By Andrei Skvarsky. Funds run by BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, have bought an undisclosed number of shares in Moscow’s Micex-RTS exchange with support from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a sovereign co-investment fund whose task is to attract foreign private equity to Russia. The sale of the stake to funds managed by… Continue Reading
BrokerCreditService hires ex-UBS analyst as chief strategist
By Andrei Skvarsky. BrokerCreditService (BCS), a Russian stock trader, has hired Kirill Chuyko from Swiss Bank UBS as chief strategist, senior metals and mining analyst and co-head of equity research. Chuyko, who was a senior Moscow-based metals and mining analyst for UBS for the past two years, took up his BCS job on Thursday, according to… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Troika Dialog hires ex-RenCap banker to co-run equity sales trading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Troika Dialog has hired Robert Hagon from Renaissance Capital as co-head of equity sales trading, an appointment that is part of the Moscow-based brokerage’s current integration with Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Hagon has already taken up his duties in the London office of Troika, whose merger with Sberbank aims to give the… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank replaces head of Russian unit
Deutsche Bank has appointed Pavel Teplukhin, a co-founder of Russian brokerage Troika Dialog, as chief executive of the Russian unit of Germany’s largest lender. Teplukhin takes up his new role on October 1, according to Reuters. He replaces Igor Lojevsky, whose contract has expired. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Russia’s BCS beefs up research team with new hire
By Andrei Skvarsky. BrokerCreditService (BCS), a Russian firm pressing for leading positions in Russia’s financial markets, has made one more in a recent series of major hires, recruiting Vladimir (Vlad) Kuznetsov from UniCredit as a senior consumer analyst, Luis Saenz, head of equity sales and trading at BCS, told EmergingMarkets.me. Kuznetsov joined UniCredit’s Russian operation… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog has one more unit renamed in merging with Sberbank
Russia’s Troika Dialog has had one more division renamed as part of its current merger with Sberbank, with Investment Company Troika Dialog changing its name to Sberbank CIB. The renaming is “one of the final stages” of Troika Dialog’s integration with Russia’s biggest lender, a project aiming to give the latter a foothold in the… Continue Reading
VTB hires ‘global icon’ Jim Rogers as agricultural investment adviser
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s VTB Capital has hired Jim Rogers, an American investor and economist who in 1998 created the Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI), as an adviser to its agricultural division. Rogers, the 69-year-old author of several books who is based in Singapore and is chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, joined forces with… Continue Reading
RDIF: pension money good source of Russian stock market liquidity
By Andrei Skvarsky. The chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, has suggested issuing infrastructure bonds, setting up index funds and investing much of the pension system’s money as key ways of boosting the liquidity of Russia’s stock market. Infrastructure bonds “could be used to finance development of the Far East… Continue Reading
Micex-RTS likely to stay shut from Dec 29 to Jan 7
Micex-RTS top brass have recommended that Moscow’s stock exchange stay closed for 10 days from December 29 to January 7, a period practically coinciding with Russia’s national non-working season. However, as a general principle, the top management recommended keeping trade going at Micex-RTS on Russian public non-working days if they make up more than one… Continue Reading
RenCap makes two promotions in Africa equity products team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has announced two promotions in its Africa-focused equity products group, with Ali Khalpey being appointed as head of South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa equities and Stanley Kariuki as head of equities for Kenya. Khalpey, who joined Renaissance in January 2010 and is based in Johannesburg, was head of equities for… Continue Reading
Russian banks short of business developers, CIB senior managers
By Andrei Skvarsky. Professionals who can fill positions of business development director and corporate and investment banking senior manager are some of those that Russian banks have the highest demand for, according to international recruitment company Antal. There are shortages of managers in various sectors of Russia’s economy, according to a statement from the headhunter.… Continue Reading
Gazprombank hires Troika Dialog’s DePoy as equity strategist
By Andrei Skvarsky. Gazprombank, the banking arm of gas giant Gazprom and Russia’s third-biggest lender by assets, has hired Erik DePoy from Troika Dialog as equity strategist. DePoy, who has more than 14 years of experience in the Russian market, spent nearly nine years at Alfa-Bank, first as a research editor and then as equity… Continue Reading
Russian Central Bank to sell part of stake in Sberbank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Central Bank plans to sell off some of its shares in Sberbank, a move that would still leave the overseer of Russia’s monetary system in control of the country’s biggest lender. Up to 1,712,994,999 ordinary shares, which make up 7.58% of Sberbank’s capital, would go on sale, according to a statement from… Continue Reading
Otkritie hires Micex-RTS chief Aganbegyan as CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Otkritie Financial Corp has hired Ruben Aganbegyan, who is stepping down as president of Moscow’s Micex-RTS stock exchange, as its chief executive. An Otkritie spokeswoman confirmed the appointment to EmergingMarkets.me. Aganbegyan replaces Vadim Belyaev, who will become president of Nomos-Bank, a Moscow institution being taken over by Otkritie in a deal… Continue Reading
BCS Bank appoints Emil Yusupov as CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. BCS (BrokerCreditService), the Moscow-based investment banking group, has promoted head of retail Emil Yusupov to the role of chief executive of BCS Bank, its lender unit. Yusupov held senior jobs at Russia’s Absolut Bank, state-owned insurer Rosgosstrakh and UralSib group before joining BCS in March 2011. Continue Reading
Micex-RTS president Aganbegyan quitting
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow’s Micex-RTS stock exchange is parting company with its president, Ruben Aganbegyan, who carried through a merger project that brought today’s main Russian bourse into being last year. A Micex-RTS statement said Aganbegyan, who pulled off the merger of Moscow’s Micex and RTS exchanges, is resigning with effect from September 25 and… Continue Reading
Russia’s UralSib Bank names Ilkka Salonen as CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s UralSib Bank has named Ilkka Salonen, formerly a deputy chairman of Sberbank and a senior figure at Renaissance Group, as its chief executive. In his new role, Salonen, who was hired from Helsinki-headquartered investment bank Septem Partners, will replace Ildar Muslimov, who has been dismissed by the bank’s supervisory board, according… Continue Reading
RenCap tops LSE International Order Book
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has topped the London Stock Exchange’s International Order Book ranking for August, increasing its market share to around 10% for the period. RenCap attributes much of this success to its investment in electronic trading and prime brokerage services. “This accomplishment demonstrates the strength of the firm as we continue to… Continue Reading
Otkritie Bank assigned long-term B rating by Fitch
By Andrei Skvarsky. Otkritie Bank, part of Otkritie Financial Corp, last week received a long-term B rating from Fitch with a Rating Watch Positive outlook in what the Moscow-based corporation sees as good going for a lender just two years old. B (‘financial situation varies noticeably’) is the second-highest tier in Fitch’s Non-Investment Grade. Otkritie… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank's CEEMEA top brass part company with senior figure
By Andrei Skvarsky. Deutsche Bank has parted company with Saleh Romeih, head of central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at the firm’s capital markets and treasury solutions (CMTS) unit. Nizar Al-Bassam, head of markets sales and coverage for the region, has been named as Romeih’s replacement, according to Bloomberg. Romeih is credited with… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog makes two more hires for investment banking team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Troika Dialog has hired Max Kolodkin from Goldman Sachs and Sergei Chinkis from HSBC to co-head its investment banking division. Kolodkin, who was a managing director at Goldman and was involved in deals with major companies such as Coca-Cola and Unilever, will run a consumer and retail trade section, according to Russian… Continue Reading
Abraaj, US govt launch $400m Middle East private equity fund
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abraaj Capital, a leading Middle East private equity firm, is going to set up a $400m fund to boost small- and medium-scale business in North Africa and the Middle East and has signed a $150m deal with the US government to partially finance the project. Egypt is “one of the core target… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog’s brokerage renamed SIB Financial Broker
Troika Dialog’s brokerage unit, Financial Broker Troika Dialog, has changed its name to SIB Financial Broker. The renaming of this and other divisions of Troika is part of the ongoing merger between the Moscow-headquartered investment firm and Sberbank designed to give Russia’s biggest lender an investment banking platform. The broker’s change of name will not… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Royal Bank of Scotland equity derivatives unit makes first sales hire in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Royal Bank of Scotland’s investor products and equity derivatives (IPED) division has made its first-ever sales hire in Russia, recruiting Peter Krivdin from Renaissance Capital as sales director for Russia and the CIS. “This means we believe in Russia and the CIS as a strong part of our emerging markets operations, thus… Continue Reading