{{{?}}} One of the largest banking groups in Russia is looking for Head of Product Development / Marketing for it’s Moscow office. The successful candidate must have: – relevant experience working in a senior role in product development / marketing within financial services industry; – strong management experience – ideally with knowledge of Russian & CIS markets as well… Continue Reading
HSBC drawn into Magnitsky affair as Russian police demand info
By Andrei Skvarsky. HSBC has found itself drawn into the Magnitsky affair as Russian police are pressing its Moscow subsidiary to cough up information relating to Hermitage Capital and threatening to use force if the British bank’s Russian arm refuses to cooperate, Hermitage said. {{{*}}} Russia’s Interior Ministry wants HSBC’s Russian unit to provide wide-ranging… Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange IPO kicks off with $500m worth of stock floated
The Moscow Exchange is launching its initial public offering today, putting 15bn rubles’ (497.5m dollars’) worth of stock on sale on its own platform and having set the per-share price at 55 rubles ($1.83). {{{*}}} A statement from the exchange values the bourse at 126.9bn rubles ($4.2bn). VTB Capital, as stabilising manager of the IPO,… Continue Reading
SBERBANK COMMENT: Economic update – sluggish performance
By analysts, Sberbank Investment Research. Growth slowed at end 2012 not just in Russia but also in neighboring Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. In contrast to Russia, where slowing economic growth has been accompanied by softening consumption growth, the Kazakh, Belarusian and Ukrainian consumer markets remain overheated. {{{*}}} We see serious risk of economic contraction in… Continue Reading
EAST CAPITAL COMMENT: Chinese equities going from strength to strength
By Gustav Rhenman, Portfolio Manager, East Capital. The outlook for Chinese equities remains upbeat after they rallied for the fifth month in a row. Among emerging markets, China stands out thanks to accelerating economic growth, rebounding industrial profits and fresh evidence that the country’s real estate market is not a bubble. {{{*}}} Since September 2012,… Continue Reading
EU legislators press Ashton over Magnitsky affair
By Andrei Skvarsky. One of the European Parliament’s political groups has pressed the European Commission to go ahead with sanctions against alleged Russian persecutors and killers of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky that the EU legislature recommended in October and December. {{{*}}} In an address to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the Alliance of… Continue Reading
Moldova seventh country to join in probes set off by Magnitsky accusations
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moldova has become the seventh country to try to track down the $230m stolen from the Russian state by senior Russian officials in an alleged tax scam uncovered by Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. {{{*}}} Hermitage claims it has obtained documents indicating that in 2008 a $53m chunk of the money was… Continue Reading
RenCap hosting one-to-one pan-Africa investor conference
Moscow’s Renaissance Capital, seeing Africa as “a golden opportuunity for investors”, is hosting a three-day annual one-to-one pan-Africa investor conference in Lagos which opened on February 11. {{{*}}} “Against the current backdrop of global market instability, Africa remains a source of tremendous growth and opportunity”, RenCap said in a statement. The current fourth Pan-Africa Investor… Continue Reading
RenCap hires traders from Alfa-Bank, Aton
Russia’s Renaissance Capital has announced it has hired Dmitry Ryzhkov from Alfa-Bank as vice president and equity sales trader for Russia and the CIS and Yury Nefedov from Aton as associate and fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) trader. {{{*}}} Ryzhkov worked as an equity sales trader at UniCredit Aton from 2006 to 2008 before… Continue Reading
VTB Capital sells bond worth $169.5m in Turkey
VTB Capital has sold a two-year bond in Turkey to a total of 300m Turkish lira ($169.5m). {{{*}}} Garanti Bank, one of Turkey’s biggest private lenders, organised the placement of the bond on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. The bond, sold to qualified investors, had a semi-annual coupon of 3.89%, the investment arm of Russia’s VTB… Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange hires former LSE exec to run intl sales
The Moscow Exchange has hired Tom O’Brien from TMX Group, the firm operating the Toronto Stock Exchange, as head of international sales. {{{*}}} O’Brien will be based in London and starts his new job in April, the Moscow bourse said in a statement. He has spent 17 years at the London Stock Exchange in various roles… Continue Reading
Ukraine’s stock market down 35% in 2012 – East Capital
Ukraine’s stock market was the world’s second worst performer after that of Cyprus last year, slumping by 35%, but can get a boost from a potential new loan from the International Monetary Fund, according to Stockholm-based asset manager East Capital. {{{*}}} Ukraine’s economy, where the main stock market players are mining, energy, engineering and financial… Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange gives CIS banks free access to currency market
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Moscow Exchange has given unrestricted access to its currency market to banks domiciled in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. {{{*}}} Banks in the four countries, which, together with Russia, are building a so-called Eurasian Economic Community, no longer need a Russian currency trade licence for access to the Moscow bourse’s currency… Continue Reading
Sberbank says Russia’s economic growth driven by consumer sectors
{{{?}}} By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has released an extensive body of research arguing that Russia’s economic growth is driven by consumer-related sectors and not by oil and gas, and that those sectors offer vast opportunities to investors. While extractive industries account for two-thirds of Russia’s stock market, and oil and gas dominate the country’s exports,… Continue Reading
Webinar – "Career Transition: The Difference Between the Burnout and the Need."
Dear Community, Our Career Partner, Ivy Exec, would like to share a webinar on the topic “Career Transition – The Difference Between the Burnout and the Need.” In this webinar, you will: · Determine how to distinguish a mid-career “itch” from just being overworked; · Learn a process for turning your burnout into a re-energized… Continue Reading
Russia is leading growth in venture-capital funds raised
Russia has seen a venture investing boom in its high technology in the past six years, {{{*}}} The Wall Street Journal reports citing findings by Dow Jones VentureSource. As a result, the Russian venture capital sector now ranks Europe’s fourth largest investor in its own high technology industries, according to Dow. Reporting the latest Dow findings, The… Continue Reading
IFC supports fuel distribution infrastructure in Ukraine
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping provide an $85 million financing package to build a network of gas filling stations in eastern Ukraine, bolstering the infrastructure for petrochemicals distribution and expanding access to high-quality fuel services across the country. IFC will provide $30 million in debt financing to support the network,… Continue Reading
Europe Virgin Fund 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
Moscow Exchange announces indicative IPO price range, dividend levels
{{{?}}} The Moscow Exchange has announced an indicative per-share price range of between 55 and 63 rubles ($1.8 and $2) for its planned initial public offering. Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank CIB and VTB Capital are joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO, to be carried out on the bourse’s own platform. Deutsche… Continue Reading
SBERBANK the world’s 13th most valuable brand – Brand Finance
By Andrei Skvarsky. {{{?}}} Sberbank’s brand value has earned Russia’s biggest lender 13th place in this year’s Top 500 Banking Brands ranking compiled by Brand Finance, a London-based brand valuation consultancy. The 500-name league table values Sberbank’s brand at $14.16bn compared with the valuation of $10.77bn on the 2012 list, where the Moscow-based firm was… Continue Reading
Sberbank bankers moving to Swiss firm to look after Russian HNWIs
{{{?}}} Sberbank is parting company with equity trader Rufat Askerov and equity salesperson Alexei Dolgikh, who have been hired by Swiss private banking group Julius Baer to work with Russian high net worth individuals. Askerov, Dolgikh and former Alfa-Bank executive Alexander Muratov, who has been running his own business in London since 2008, will be… Continue Reading
Otkritie hires man from Moscow Exchange top brass as DMA chief
{{{?}}} Moscow’s Otkritie brokerage has hired Sergey Sinkevich from the Moscow Exchange as head of direct market access (DMA). Before his new job at the brokerage’s Otkritie Capital division, Sinkevich headed the primary market department at the Moscow Exchange. Previously he spent nearly a decade at the Russian office of GE Money, a banking arm… Continue Reading
Ukraine: Mind the Gap
By Conal Campbell of www.Growth-Communications.com Ukraine has again made the news in recent weeks with a high-profile deal being signed at Davos with Shell, touted as being valued at as much as $10 bn. {{{*}}} The 50-year production sharing agreement to explore the Yuzivska shale gas field in eastern Ukraine follows other deals with Western majors such as… Continue Reading
Jones Lang LaSalle appointed Natalia Tischendorf as Head of Corporate Finance for Russia & CIS
{{{?:0}}} Jones Lang LaSalle promoted Natalia Tischendorf to Head of Corporate Finance for Russia & CIS. Natalia joined Jones Lang LaSalle seven years ago and has been working as a National Director in the Capital Markets department. In her new role Natalia will be focusing on helping local and international companies with raising equity and… Continue Reading
Tatarstan’s Innopolis to receive $670 million in investments
{{{?:0}}} The Republic of Tatarstan is confirming its commitment to innovation with plans to invest heavily over the next two years in the engineering and transport infrastructure of Innopolis, an “innovation city” under completion near the capital Kazan. Tatarstan will put up a significant part of the total investment, which has been estimated at 20… Continue Reading
Russia's MDM parts company with deputy CEO
{{{?:0}}} MDM Bank, one of Russia’s largest private lenders, has parted company with its deputy chief executive Nikita Riauzov. Riauzov is going to take a few weeks to choose a new job, according to the Finparty.ru website. He was head of corporate and investment banking at MDM for nearly eight years before being promoted to… Continue Reading
EBRD loans to HEINEKEN brewery in Belarus
{{{?:0}}} European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing EUR 5 million in funding for the Belarus operations of the HEINEKEN group – one of the Europe’s largest beer producer. The loan will be used mainly to support the company’s efforts to promote the production of high-quality barley by local farmers and make a… Continue Reading
Runa Capital leads $4.7M series A round for Israeli mobile solutions company Cellrox
{{{?:0}}} Cellrox, an Israeli start-up in the mobile services domain, has bagged a USD 4.7 mln round of funding during its Series A round. Led by Runa Capital, the company’s existing investors are also participating in the round. They include Columbia Technology Ventures and Previz Venture Partners, among others. The funding will be used to… Continue Reading
Portfolio Analyst – Financial Services Company – Moscow
{{{?}}} International Financial Services company is looking for Portfolio Analysts to join their team in Moscow. Successful candidate will be responsible for valuation of loan portfolios, forecasting of key indicators, monitoring of existing and development of new strategies working with NPLs, monitoring of existing loan portfolios and their management with the aim to increase recovery… Continue Reading