By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Renaissance Capital argues that the likeliest explanation of Russia’s current economic slowdown is a middle income trap, a situation where a fast-growing economy gets stuck after reaching a certain level of per capita income. “Fast-growing economies, including Russia, eventually slow down as the easy catch-up productivity gains relative to developed economies… Continue Reading
Coroporate/Securities Lawyer – London
We are looking for a corporate and securities lawyer to work independently as a legal consultant. The candidate must have a working experience in financial markets, securities underwriting and public listings/IPOs. Recruiting Company: Maximpact Contact Person: Julia Email: info@maximpact.com {{{?}}} Continue Reading
Unicorn Capital PE fund raises $100m since 2012
By Andrei Skvarsky. Unicorn Capital Partners, an emerging markets-focused private equity fund set up last year, has carried out the first phase of its capitalisation plan by raising $100m. Unicorn, which is based in Vienna and has a target size of $500m, seeks to invest in small and medium enterprises and middle-market companies in sectors… Continue Reading
Sberbank lends $250m to leading producer of titanium
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has lent $250m to Russian company VSMPO-AVISMA, a leading producer of titanium with Airbus, Rolls-Royce, General Electric and Boeing among its customers. The deal was arranged by Sberbank CIB, the bank’s investment arm. “The structure of the deal enabled the borrower to optimise its debt burden and allowed… Continue Reading
Biofuel to heat Russia’s unelectrified railroads
Russian Railways, the national rail operator, has been increasingly using biofuel to heat railroad cars at unelectrified sections of Russian railroads, Bellona.ru reports. Trains are reportedly equipped with about 300 boilers that use biofuel pellets, and about 6,000 tons of biofuel is consumed each year. Specifically, biofuel pellets are used at railroad sections in the Moscow,… Continue Reading
VTB Capital announces new appointments in Asia
VTB Capital announced new senior appointments to its Hong Kong office, as part of its expansion strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. Xin Lin has been appointed as VTB Capital’s Head of Multiproduct Sales for China, where she will be responsible for Sales & Origination and Fixed Income across Chinese corporate, investor and financial institutional clients.… Continue Reading
Barclays names Head of AsiaPac Equities
Barclays has named Nick Wright as head for equities in Asia Pacific. He succeeds Mike Di Iorio, who is to relocate to London. Wright had joined Barclays in October 2011 as head of global markets for Japan, and previously worked at Credit Suisse AG and Morgan Stanley. Continue Reading
Marsh appoints head of business development for MENA region
Marsh has appointed Neil Irwin to lead the firm’s business development across its Middle East and North Africa region. He will be based in Dubai and joins the region’s executive committee, reporting to Robert Makhoul, chief executive officer, Marsh MENA. After joining 1991, Irwin has held a variety of strategic business development, consulting and senior management positions within… Continue Reading
Sberbank cuts corporate loan rates to get more clients
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has cut interest rates for corporate loans by between 04% and 1.4% per year as from Wednesday. “We believe that this will have a very positive effect on the market,” a statement released by Sberbank on Thursday quoted the bank’s deputy chief executive Andrei Donskikh as saying. “We… Continue Reading
Cantor Fitzgerald expands its credit fixed income team
Cantor Fitzgerald announced the expansion of its credit fixed income team with key appointments of several seasoned professionals, who are all joining Cantor Fitzgerald from Gleacher & Company. These individuals will focus on high yield and investment grade sales and trading, and building out the firm’s credit platform. The team will report to Adam Vengrow and David Pichler,… Continue Reading
BGC Partners Appoints Jean-Jack Badet
BGC Partners announced the appointment of Jean-Jack Badet as general manager of its business in Switzerland. Based in Nyon, Badet will be responsible for all of BGC’s financial products business in Switzerland and helping drive business growth in Switzerland. Badet has more than 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He joins BGC from Tradition, where… Continue Reading
EAST CAPITAL COMMENT: "China: Double-digit growth figures a thing of the past"
By Kristina Sandklef, Macro Economist Asia. The newspaper headlines about China’s slowing economy may spell doom and gloom, but we have faith in the strength of the Chinese economy and believe it has great long-term growth potential – despite the days of double-digit growth probably being a thing of the past. {{{*}}} First quarter figures showed that GDP… Continue Reading
UBS appoints co-heads of equities for Asia-Pacific
UBS has appointed Shane Gunther and Taichi Takahashi as co-heads of equities for Asia-Pacific, according to an internal announcement issued late last week. They will replace CJ Beshke, who is retiring after more than 24 years with the bank. Until this appointment, which took effect immediately, Gunther was head of cash sales for Asia-Pacific, while… Continue Reading
Jeffrey Fox Joins Palmer Square Capital Management
Palmer Square Capital Management announced that Jeffrey Fox has joined the team as executive director. Reporting to Angie Long, Palmer Square’s chief investment officer, Fox’s primary focus will be on managing the analytics, trading and modeling behind the firm’s structured credit and CLO platform. He will also play a key role in new product development and working with… Continue Reading
Credit Suisse Group promotes co-heads of investment banking for South-East Asia
Credit Suisse has promoted Edwin Low and Rizal Gozali as co-heads of investment banking for South-east Asia. In their new roles, Low and Gozali will be responsible for leading the bank’s investment banking activities in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Low, who has been with the bank since 1996, was previously head of Singapore and Malaysia… Continue Reading
Ruble stops sliding, edges up after Central Bank intervention
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian Central Bank last month carried through its first currency intervention since November 2012 in propping up the weakening ruble. {{{*}}} April’s sales of $663m and 45.05m euros had been the regulator’s biggest foreign currency sales since July last year, Russian business daily Vedomosti said. The intervention apparently helped somewhat –… Continue Reading
Sberbank: state of Russian economy “not too alarming”
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank argues that, although the country’s economy appears to be grinding to a halt, the picture is “not too alarming” and growth of 3% or more is still possible this year. The Economics Ministry late last month revised its GDP growth forecast for 2013 to 2.4% from 3.6%. This… Continue Reading
Citi Private Bank appoints Global Chief Strategist
Citi Private Bank announced the appointment of Steven Wieting as global chief strategist, with responsibility for formulating investment views and strategies globally. Wieting is currently managing director and US economist at Citi Research. He will report to Eduardo Martinez Campos, global head of investments at Citi Private Bank. Wieting will also be appointed chair of the Global Investment… Continue Reading
Merrill Lynch appoints Head of Wealth Management
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management announced that Ashvin Chhabra is joining the firm as chief investment officer, Head of Investment Management and Guidance (IMG). In his role, Chhabra will oversee the delivery of investment advice and strategy to financial advisors and their clients. He will also lead the IMG manager due diligence, investment analytics, and investment guidance teams,… Continue Reading
EAST CAPITAL COMMENT: Why Russia is not performing
By Peter Elam Håkansson, Chairman and Head of Public Equity investment team The Russian market has certainly not been generous to investors during the first four months of 2013. We did however see a strong rebound in the last week of April but the Moscow stock exchange is still at a minus so far this year. This… Continue Reading
Houlihan Lokey appoints Head of Asia
Houlihan Lokey appointed David Timblick as managing director and head of Asia, including Houlihan Lokey’s Tokyo office. Timblick is based in Hong Kong and joins from Lazard Asia, where he has held a number of roles over the past 14 years. He recently served as head of Lazard’s Asia advisory practice, overseeing strategy, planning, and client coverage… Continue Reading
East Capital Real Estate signs new deal in Riga
East Capital Baltic Property Fund II has acquired a retail property in Riga, which is long term leased to Prisma Hypermarket (‘Prisma’). The property is located on Deglava street in Riga, one of the main traffic arteries eastbound from the city, and in the middle of a densely populated residential area. The retail property has… Continue Reading
Esemplia Emerging Markets appoints head of Hong Kong and China equities
Esemplia Emerging Markets announced the appointment of Samantha Ho as head of Hong Kong and China equities, effective immediately. She is based in Hong Kong. Ho has overall responsibility for managing Esemplia’s Hong Kong and China equity investment team, and driving the firm’s growth plans in the market. Ho has over 25 years of experience in fund… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank appoints regional head of global transaction banking for MEA
Deutsche Bank announced the appointment of Harold Leenen, as the regional head of global transaction banking (GTB) for the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Leenen takes over from Sriram Iyer, who will relocate to London as global head of Deutsche Bank’s trust & agency services group, which provides trustee, agency, escrow and related services to corporate clients,… Continue Reading
Otkritie Capital appoints Head of IT and Head of Project Office
Russian investment bank Otkritie Capital recently appointed Yuri Yartsev as Head of IT and Grigory Kozin as Head of Projects Office at the bank. In his position, Yuri will be responsible for the general management of the department throughout Russia, the UK, the US and all of the regions covered by the company’s footprint. Yury worked for Otkritie from… Continue Reading
Goldman Sachs survey: insurers worldwide more upbeat about investment
By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by Goldman Sachs suggests that insurers worldwide are growing more optimistic about investment opportunities despite the uncertain and challenging 2012 with its low interest rates, and that many are willing to take on more portfolio risk. More than 40% of chief investment officers (CIOs) of insurance companies intend to increase… Continue Reading
Sberbank brand launched in Croatia
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has launched its brand in Croatia by changing the name of its subsidiary in the Balkan country from Volksbank Croatia to Sberbank Croatia. Sberbank Croatia’s flagship branch in Zagreb offers the full range of financial services to both retail and corporate clients. By July the subsidiary will have branches in tourist… Continue Reading
Sberbank CIB hires Credit Suisse banker as head of energy
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, the investment unit of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has reported one more in a recent string of senior appointments, hiring Igor Ukrasin from Credit Suisse as co-head of sector investment banking and head of energy. Ukrasin, who takes up his new job on May 14, spent 15 years at Credit… Continue Reading
iTech Capital invested in Garpun
Russian iTech Capital has invested US$ 3.5 mln in a solution for professional online ad management. Russian ad tech startup Garpun which developed a box solution to provide digital agencies and corporate advertisers with a full set of tools for professional online ad management, has raised $3,5 million in its first round of funding. The… Continue Reading