By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment consultancy Moorgate Capital advised on a 160m-pound ($243m) buyout in the European {{{*}}} packaging products industry, Nicholas Mockett of the London-based advisory firm told EmergingMarkets.me. The transaction involved the sale of Contego Healthcare, a European manufacturer of cartons, leaflets, labels and foils for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, to Filtrona, a supplier of… Continue Reading
EBRD loan to restore and modernise steel production in Croatia
The EBRD is supporting the efforts to restart production at the steel factory in Sisak in central Croatia. The location has a long history of steel operations and has been a major employer. The Sisak Ironworks have been acquired by the Italian company Danieli and their steel company ABS, currently embarking on a restructuring and… Continue Reading
e-Baby commerce industry gets new investments in CEE region
In what can only be considered a boom to e-baby commerce, three independent investments have been made in companies that sell babies’ and children’s products in Europe. First, Russian VC ru-Net has invested USD 6 mln for a 25 per cent equity stake in Esky, a Russian portal that serves the young children’s market. Second investment comes in… Continue Reading
TA Ventures and Paradigm Investments participate in $2.5M Series A Round for prepaid card retailer IQcard
Paradigm Investments and TA Ventures have participated in Series A funding for IQcard, {{{*}}}} a pre-paid card operator in Russia according to Invest-IQ. IQcard is a Russian startup that allows people to purchase pre-paid cards for monetary transactions without the need to open a bank account. Founded in 2012 through the efforts of Fastlane Ventures, Direct Group and CEO Ekaterina… Continue Reading
White Square Office Centre in Moscow has a new owner
A consortium between leading developer AIG/Lincoln, Russian investment bank VTB Capital and global private investment firm {{{*}}} TPG Holdings (sellers) and the investment company O1 Properties, one of the largest owners and managers of a portfolio of high quality office properties in Moscow (purchaser), announce the completion of an investment transaction involving White Square, a… Continue Reading
Markit says world business, mainly US and Chinese firms, upbeat about 2013
By Andrei Skvarsky. According to Markit, a global financial information services company, {{{*}}} the global business community is today much more upbeat about the year ahead than it was last October, with the United States and China showing the highest optimism. “Worldwide business confidence has revived from the post-crisis low seen late last year, with… Continue Reading
Abris closes latest CEE fund on €450m
Abris has exceeded expectations to reach hard-cap for its Abris Capital Fund II {{{*}}} – despite no exits since the GP was founded in 2007. Abris Capital Partners has reached its hard-cap of €450m for a final close on its second fund targeting the CEE mid-market. A total of 21 investors came into the fund,… Continue Reading
Sberbank to lend PGP developer $218m for Moscow project
Sberbank CIB, the investment arm {{{*}}} of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, plans to open a 10-year $218m credit line for the PGP developer to build a multi-functional shopping and entertainment centre in Moscow. The plan is sealed in a preliminary agreement signed during this week’s MIPIM international real estate show in Cannes, France, Sberbank CIB… Continue Reading
RenCap appoints researchers for consumer-related sectors
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has added the coverage of Russian consumer-related sectors {{{*}}} to the duties of its analysts David Ferguson and Nick Robinson, who until now have been covering media, information technology and real estate sectors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ferguson, who has been with RenCap for six years, has… Continue Reading
Sberbank launching residential real estate investment fund
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, is {{{*}}} launching a closed-end residential real estate mutual fund for non-qualified investors. The Sberbank Residential Real Estate fund, which would finance the construction of relatively inexpensive apartments in Moscow and its suburbs, is being set up by Sberbank Asset Management, a division that was part of Troika Dialog before the… Continue Reading
Sberbank lending $62m for two real estate projects in Krasnodar
Sberbank CIB, the investment arm {{{*}}} of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has pledged to provide a 10-year credit line of 1.9bn rubles ($62m) to Russian developer RAMO-M for two projects in Krasnodar in southern Russia. The loan deal was announced at this week’s MIPIM international real estate show in Cannes, France, where Sberbank CIB has sent… Continue Reading
GOLDMAN SACHS COMMENT: From the weekly Viewpoints of Jim O'Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management
European Glory. So yet another year of European dreams comes {{{*}}} to an end for United, and this time in such harsh circumstances. Last Tuesday in Manchester had it all. As I wrote at the time of the draw for the last 16 in the Champions League, for me, it brought back memories as a… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BCS insists Moscow Exchange shares are good investment
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s CreditBrokerService (BCS) has become {{{*}}} the first broker to launch the research coverage of the stock of the Moscow Exchange, issuing a “buy” recommendation but pointing out that equity trading volumes in Russia for the fourth quarter of 2012 showed a year-on-year drop of 70%. BCS analyst Olga Naydenova suggests a… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BrokerCreditService hires ex-UBS banker as senior utilities analyst
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService (BCS) has hired Igor Goncharov, a former researcher {{{*}}} with Swiss bank UBS and Dutch lender ING, as senior utilities analyst. Goncharov took up his Moscow-based position at BCS on March 11, Luis Saenz, head of equity and derivatives sales and trading at the firm’s London office, told EmergingMarkets.me.… Continue Reading
Gazprombank names ex-Swiss banker as head of asset management
Gazprombank has appointed Aylin Suntay, a former Swiss banker who joined the Russian lender in September 2012, {{{*}}} as head of asset management. Suntay headed the small cap equities business at Geneva-based Pictet Asset Management for over a decade before leaving the firm a year ago. In her new position, she replaces Anatoly Miliukov, who… Continue Reading
Former Russian unit of Barclays hires investment banking chief
Moscow’s Expobank, the former Russian retail unit of British bank Barclays, has hired Nikita Riauzov, {{{*}}} an ex-top manager at Russian lender MDM, as head of corporate and investment banking. Riauzov spent nine and a half years at MDM, one of Russia’s largest private banks, first as head of corporate and investment business and then,… Continue Reading
Abraaj considering selling stake in Turkish health insurer Acibadem – Invest IQ
Abraaj Capital, the largest private equity firm in the Middle East, is considering the sale of its 50% stake in Turkish health insurer {{{*}}} Acibadem Sigorta, according to investment intelligence website Invest IQ. Last year Abraaj sold its stake in Acibadem Saglik, Turkey’s largest hospital chain, to Integrated Healthcare Holdings, a division of Malaysian government… Continue Reading
RenCap hires IT chief from BrokerCreditService
Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank focusing on emerging markets, has hired {{{*}}} Vladimir Gibenko from Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService (BCS) as head of information technology. Gibenko took up his new job on March 1, RenCap said in a statement. He returned to Renaissance, where he held IT-related positions before taking charge of the IT service at BCS. Gibenko worked at Alfa-Bank… Continue Reading
Elbrus Capital buys OSG Records Management from Aurora Russia
Elbrus Capital, Russian equity firm recently bought OSG Records Management from Aurora Russia. {{{*}}} The target company was acquired through a secondary buyout that puts its value at between USD25 and 50 mln. It is intended that the transaction will close in early March 2013, with Aurora Russia exiting the company nearly seven years after… Continue Reading
East Capital upbeat about Russia’s domestically-, consumer-focused sectors
East Capital, an emerging markets-focused asset manager headquartered in Stockholm, argues {{{*}}} that domestically-oriented and consumer-related sectors offer the best investment opportunities in Russia. According to East Capital’s chief investment officer, Peter Elam Håkansson, today’s Russia is a country with a “strong economy”, one of the world’s strongest balance sheets, domestically-focused sectors experiencing double-digit growth, and a… Continue Reading
Otkritie puts deputy CEO Romaev in charge of Nomos
Russia’s Otkritie financial group has given an extra role to Dmitry Romaev, its deputy chief executive and chief {{{*}}} financial officer, by appointing him as chief executive officer of Nomos, a Moscow bank bought out by Otkritie in autumn 2012. As head of Nomos, Romaev succeeds Dmitry Sokolov, who was the lender’s chief executive since… Continue Reading
Dragon Capital invests in pharmaceutical company Sperco Ukraine
Europe Virgin Fund L.P. (‘EVF’), a private equity fund sponsored by Dragon Capital, has completed formation of a 50/50 joint venture {{{*}}} with Ucrafarma S.A., a Spanish pharmaceutical company. The partners have united their forces in Lux PHARMA Participations SA, a Luxembourg-based holding company, with Ucrafarma transferring various pharmaceutical assets including its 95% stake in… Continue Reading
Re-launch of EmergingMarkets.me
{{{?}}}We are now ready to announce the re-launch of EmergingMarkets.me, an online financial news and analysis service for emerging markets professionals. We will continue to focus on investment banking, asset management, fund management, mergers and acquisitions, equity markets, debt markets, private equity, custody, trading, and technology. With the latest news, opinions and analysis, our readers… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Goldman Sachs hires ex-Deutsche banker to run MENA unit
Goldman Sachs has hired Saleh Romeih, who left Deutsche Bank in September, as head of {{{*}}} securities division distribution for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), according to a financial market source. Romeih, who spent 18 years at Deutsche, was the German bank’s head for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa,… Continue Reading
Home Credit receives bids totalling $300m for Russian bonds
Home Credit, one of Europe’s leading retail lenders, has pulled off a highly successful securities project in Russia, {{{*}}} with a total of 9.4bn rubles ($300m) offered for bonds issued by its Russian subsidiary – more than three times their total par value. Sberbank CIB, the investment banking arm of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, Raiffeisenbank… Continue Reading
Multi Product Structured Solutions – Investment Bank – London
{{{?}}} Multi Asset Salesperson required for a CEEMEA group within a London based team at a tier one bank. Must have experience of selling Fixed Income, FX & Rates as well as Structured Equity products to an Crentral or Eastern Europe client base comprising Financial Institutions (Public Side). Recruiting Company: Global ID Solutions Contact Person:… Continue Reading
RDIF, VEB, France’s CDC sign private equity promotion deal
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and VEB development bank and France’s Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC), {{{*}}} all of which are state institutions, have signed an agreement to boost private equity investment in the two countries. The deal – a memorandum of understanding – was signed in Moscow on February 28… Continue Reading
Clearstream link to Russian CSD goes live with custody fees halved
By Andrei Skvarsky. Clearstream, the clearing and settlement arm of German stock exchange Deutsche Boerse, has confirmed that its direct link to Russia’s new central securities depository {{{*}}} , the National Settlement Depository (NSD), is going live on February 28, and that it is cutting its custody fees for Russian OFZ sovereign bonds by up to… Continue Reading
Hungary’s Primus Capital launches iCatapult-designed acceleration programme
Hungarian venture capital investment company Primus Capital – unrelated to the Cleveland-based firm of the same name – is putting up a 400m-forint ($1.77m) fund to launch a newly-designed business acceleration programme in seeking access to the U.S. market for Hungarian technology companies. {{{?}}} The programme, designed by New York-based technology firm iCatapult, involves a… Continue Reading