Sberbank of Russia and Troika Dialog announce the closure of the deal to merge the two companies. This landmark event signals the creation of the largest universal banking institution in Russia. The integration of Troika Dialog will enable Sberbank to reach a new level of client service through high-quality financial consultation and a broad choice… Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
GOLDMAN COMMENT: Europe Needs Growth, not More Austerity
Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Late Friday, the S&P finally followed through with their early December 2011 threat and downgraded a number of European countries’ credit rating, including Austria and France, who lost their AAA status. This threat had been hanging over the markets ever since the last EU Summit and, at least… Continue Reading
VTB Capital appoints CEO for Middle-East and Africa
Makram Abboud has been appointed as CEO Middle East & Africa and Co-Head of the International Multi-Product Origination and Distribution group for VTB Capital plc. In both these roles, Makram will be responsible for the development and implementation of VTB Capital’s International Client Franchise strategy internationally and in MENA, where VTB Capital’s goal is to… Continue Reading
VTB Capital announces key appointment in Fixed Income
Philip Hamilton has been appointed Head of VTB Capital’s Global Fixed Income Flow Sales Group. The Group was formed following the strategic realignment and enhancement of VTB Capital’s Global Markets Sales & Origination structure. Philip will be responsible for managing and growing VTB Capital Fixed Income flow distribution franchise with Russian and international clients. Over… Continue Reading
Ovanes Oganisian to Join Troika Dialog as Strategist
Troika Dialog announced the appointment of Ovanes Oganisian as Strategist. In his new position, Ovanes will work closely with Chief Strategist Chris Weafer to provide insightful analysis for Troika Dialog’s client base on what promises to be another fascinating period for Russian and CIS equities. Ovanes comes to Troika Dialog with over 15 years of… Continue Reading
GOLDMAN COMMENT: A New Year Ray of Hope?
By Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Sticking with my theme of trying to be pragmatic, the first week of 2012 closed with, on the one hand, a few highly interesting developments, and on the other hand, a sense of 2011 déjà vu, especially as it relates to Europe. Following the tone of my… Continue Reading
VTB Capital Appoints CEO For Asia
Damian Chunilal has been appointed as CEO Asia for VTB Capital and will be based in Hong Kong and oversee the strategic development and further acceleration of the company’s expansion in financial markets across Asia. Mr. Chunilal will report to Atanas Bostandjiev, CEO, UK and International for VTB Capital. Damian Chunilal has more than 20… Continue Reading
Houlihan Lokey is expanding its M&A team
Steven Tishman has joined Houlihan Lokey as Global Head of M&A. Previously Steven was co-head of U.S. M&A at Rothschild. Houlihan Lokey, one of the largest global private investment banks is currently taking steps to actively expand its services in Eastern Europe and the CIS. It currently covers these regions from European offices and have already completed several high-profile mandates in Russia, Kazakhstan and Eastern… Continue Reading
Some BRICs Built But More Still Needed
Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30 is the tenth anniversary of when I first mentioned the BRIC acronym when I published GS Global Economics Paper No: 66, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs.” As I am sure a number of readers now know, I am publishing a book to celebrate the… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Medvedev raises spectre of new cold war as popularity fades
By Eugene Kasevin. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has kicked off his own little Cold War just in time for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The move will be widely perceived as rhetorical shot across the bows of the US administration which is planning to build a missile-defense system in Europe. It also serves a rallying cry… Continue Reading
Charlie Ryan seals his reputation as Russia's most successful banker
By Andrei Skvarsky. UFG founder Charlie Ryan has sealed his reputation as the most successful foreign banker in Russia ever by clinching a deal which nets him a fourth payout from Deutsche Bank. The American banker, who oversaw Deutsche Bank’s Russian operation from 2005 to 2010, is selling Deutsche the remaining 60% stake in UFG’s… Continue Reading
VTB to heavily benefit from Sechin’s privatisation initiative
By Andrei Skvarsky. State-owned bank VTB would benefit seriously during its planned partial privatisation from a share pricing measure proposed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Renaissance Capital analysts argue. Sechin last week proposed an amendment to the 2011-2013 privatisation programme to ensure that the starting price of a state company in any privatisation deal should not be lower… Continue Reading
RenCap boosts presence in Turkey by taking over Istanbul broker
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has clinched a deal to buy out Istanbul-based brokerage Mira Menkul Degerler in building up its presence in Turkey. Burak Akbulut, who has been in charge of RenCap’s business in Turkey, has been appointed as acting chief executive of the emergent Renaissance Capital Turkey, the Russian firm said… Continue Reading
Sberbank becomes Europe's 3rd biggest lender
Russia’s state lender Sberbank has become the third largest bank in Europe in terms of market capitalization. With a market cap of almost $60bn from November 14, the 170-year-old behemoth outranks France’s BNP Paribas, Switzerland’s UBS, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Britain’s Barklays and Royal Bank of Scotland. Sberbank’s strategic goal by 2014 is to enter the… Continue Reading
VTB Capital plots IPO route through new Hong Kong office
VTB Capital, the Russian state-controlled investment bank, is hoping to arrange “three or four” IPOs through its new Hong Office next year. The bank’s deputy chairman Yuri Soloviev said the listings would be in the energy and metals and mining sectors, according to the Hong Kong Economic Journal. The Hong Kong team will be boosted… Continue Reading
Wermuth loses second senior manager since summer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Wermuth Asset Management, a German fund manager chiefly operating from Moscow, has parted company with its chief executive Maarten van den Belt, three months after another top figure in the relatively small company quit the firm. Van den Belt, whom Wermuth hired as its CEO in July 2010, has been replaced by Michael… Continue Reading
RusRating founder and CEO Richard Hainsworth steps aside
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian rating agency RusRating has put aside its founder and chief executive Richard Hainsworth by appointing him as company president and passing over his top managerial duties to Dmitri Yefimov from Russian business news agency AK&M. The appointment of Yefimov, who takes up the job today, “was motivated by the… Continue Reading
Sberbank to axe 30,000 jobs
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, plans to sack 30,000 employees or 12.5% of its personnel, thereby following other banks in Russia and worldwide in cutting jobs as the euro debt crisis deepens. Sberbank chief executive German Gref told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that the reason why the firm would slash its numbers to… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank snaps up remainder of UFG Capital Management
By Ivan Anderzhanov. Germany’s Deutsche Bank will take over the remaining 60% in the Russia’s UFG Capital Management it doesn’t own in an effort to boost its presence in the country’s nascent asset management sphere. The financial details of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Deutsche UFG Capital Management has 370 million euro of assets under management. Detusche bought the… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Otkritie hires Hyerdale’s D’Angelo to run American sales
By Andrei Skvarsky. Otkritie has hired Patrick D’Angelo from U.S. hedge fund Hyerdale Capital as director of equity sales and trading at the New York office of the Russian investment bank. D’Angelo’s new role means involvement in Otkritie’s planned expansion in the United States, Canada and South America, Luis Saenz, chief executive of… Continue Reading
Troika hires Standard Bank’s Leith as heir apparent
By Andrei Skvarsky. Troika Dialog has hired Rob Leith from South Africa’s Standard Bank, which used to own a big slice of the Russian brokerage, as global head of investment banking and head of global markets. Leith is taking up what is a newly created role with responsibility for both business areas. He will partially… Continue Reading
EBRD, World Bank try to cut emissions from gas flaring in Russia
By Marcus Williams. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is joining forces with the World Bank to help governments in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan reduce the waste of a valuable energy source and also combat damage to the environment. In a joint statement, the two international financial institutions said there are currently… Continue Reading
Micex halts trading again for mysterious reason
By Andrei Skvarsky. Trading on the Micex screeched to a halt today for a third time in about three months for mysterious reasons as the exchange merges with Moscow rival, RTS. Micex, which resumed trade at 11am, said in a statement the reason for today’s suspension were “incorrect records of participants’ remaining funds in the… Continue Reading
INTERVIEW: Raiffeisen staying the course in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Raiffeisen has no plans to follow its European counterparts by retreating from or retrenching in Russia, the Austrian lender’s top spokesman, Michael Palzer, tells EmergingMarkets.me. AS: Russia’s Sberbank is said to be eyeing the Russian assets of crisis-hit European banks, hoping to buy them cheaply. Has it offered to buy your Russian subsidiary?… Continue Reading
WEAFER COMMENT: Big Boost for EM and for Russia
By Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist at Troika Dialog. The weekly equity funds flow report from EPFR Global showed a big jump in new investment into emerging market funds for the week ended Wednesday. A total of $3.5 bln was invested into all EM funds compared to $1.0 bln the week before. Russia dedicated funds reported… Continue Reading
BG Capital shutters its Ukraine office
By Ivan Anderzhnov BG Capital, the investment banking arm of Bank of Georgia, is closing down its Ukrainian office to focus on its domestic market where it has much more positive prospects for growth, according to Kyivpost. “As of today, the Kiev office is officially closed,” said Nick Piazza, CEO of BG Capital, in a letter to clients on… Continue Reading
Russia’s Arbat Capital hires ex-Aton trader for hedge fund project
By Andrei Skvarsky. Arbat Capital, a Russian investment management firm, has hired Igor Azarov, a former trader at Aton, for a position that includes a senior trading role in a new hedge fund. Yulia Bushueva, manager of the New Kremlin Fund, confirmed to EmergingMarkets.me that the equity hedging facility would be the key project of… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russia and the WTO
By Daniel Salter, Head of EMEA Equity Strategy at UniCredit Securities. Russia is by far the largest global economy outside the WTO. Entry negotiations have been going on for eighteen years, since Russia applied to join the WTO’s predecessor, GATT, in 1993. However, after numerous false starts, progress appears to have accelerated recently – we… Continue Reading
VTB inhales one of Europe’s main cigarette makers
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s VTB Capital has completed the acquisition of Bulgartabac, one of Europe’s leading cigarette manufacturers. The investment banking arm of state-owned VTB Group, Russia’s second biggest lender, said in a statement it had paid 100.1m euros ($136.8m) for its 79.83% stake in the Sofia-based company. The terms of the deal include commitments… Continue Reading