Revere launches consultancy for early-stage hedge funds

By Andrei Skvarsky. Revere Capital Advisors, a hedge fund management specialist, has launched a strategic marketing and business development consultancy for early-stage hedge funds. The consultancy, REM Marketing Solutions, is based in London and offers marketing, sales, product management and business management services. Its managers for Europe are Camilla Balmer and Yvonne Barker-Layton, according to… Continue Reading

Ukraine agribusiness co-owned by RenCap hires CFO

By Andrei Skvarsky. Ukrainian Agrarian Investments (UAI), a major Ukrainian farming business co-founded and co-owned by Russia’s Renaissance Capital, has hired Alexandre Joseph from French agricultural company AgroGeneration as chief financial officer. A statement from RenCap, which is currently selling out to billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group. credits Joseph, who will be based in Kyiv, with… Continue Reading

EM Fixed Income Sales – London

My client is looking for people with strong fixed income sales experience to come in and add to their sales team. They are ideally looking for someone from an established broker house/investment bank would has an existing client list. This is a company which allows excellent opportunities for people with the right attitude to do… Continue Reading

Head of Product Control – India

Product Control – Global Equities – Manage, control and ensure the integrity of the balance sheet of the global Equities businesses supported by India. {{{?}}} – Daily P&L reporting of Equities Trading businesses including Cash and Derivatives. – Control oversight of sub ledger and GL bookings. The Equities business has grown significantly over the past… Continue Reading

Magnitsky case defendant’s life in danger, witness says

By Andrei Skvarsky. A Moscow court has been told there is a conspiracy to murder Dmitry Kratov, the only defendant in the Magnitsky case, said British investment fund Hermitage Capital. Olga Grigorieva, a former head of the medical service for Moscow’s prisons, told the Tverskoi Court that a former prison official had warned her in… Continue Reading

GOLDMAN SACHS COMMENT: Washington and Beijing

By Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Washington and Beijing. This week has been an important news week, at least for the media, for political developments in the US and China. I would question whether anything has materially changed as a result of the US election and the Chinese leadership handover. The stock markets… Continue Reading

Russia sets up central securities depository

By Andrei Skvarsky. The National Settlement Depository, part of Moscow’s Micex-RTS stock exchange, has been granted the status of Russia’s central securities depository (CSD). “Foreign central depositories will now be able to open nominee accounts with Russia’s CSD,” Micex-RTS said in a statement. Russian state and corporate bonds will have links to international central securities… Continue Reading

Russia’s high-tech market becomes new destination for investors

(Updated) Russia’s High Tech Market Becomes a New Destination for Investors InvestDay at the Open Innovation Forum in Moscow was a Success On October 30-November 2, 2012, RVC (Russia Venture Company), a major LP on VC funds in Russia, held a series of events named RVC Smart Future: InvestDay at the Open Innovation forum in… Continue Reading

Kazakh oil pipeline aims to raise $199 mln in IPO

Kazakhstan’s oil pipeline monopoly KazTransOil plans to raise 30 billion tenge ($199 million) via an initial public offer (IPO) as part of the Central Asian nation’s “People’s IPO” programme, a senior sovereign wealth fund official said on Friday. The oil-rich country’s government plans to invigorate the small local stock market and raise around $500 million… Continue Reading

RVC SmartFuture: LP Unlimited conference shows relevance of attracting private capital to venture field

The LP Unlimited conference for existing and potential investors in technology startups, Limited Partners and General Partners, held within the framework of the “Open Innovation” forum opened today covered the prospects of attracting private and corporate investment in the capital venture industry. The founder of Medica Venture Partners, Ehud Geller, noted that the state’s involvement… Continue Reading

Nomos banker joins UralSib as top asset manager

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian bank Nomos has parted company with its head of asset management, Yury Belonoschenko, who has been hired by Moscow’s UralSib Financial Corporation for a similar role. Belonoschenko’s UralSib appointment as head of asset management takes effect on November 23, according to a statement from the banking group. His capital markets career,… Continue Reading

RenCap hires sales traders for EMEA platform

By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has hired two sales traders for its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) platform. Shu-Ming Peng, who arrives from Morgan Stanley, and Aimee Crane, who previously worked at ING and JPMorgan Chase, will be based at the London office of the Moscow investment bank, according to a statement from RenCap.… Continue Reading

EXCLUSIVE: BrokerCreditService makes one more research hire

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService has made yet another addition to its research team by hiring Anna Kurbatova from Gazprombank as senior telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) analyst. Kurbatova will be based in Moscow and took up her BrokerCreditService job on Monday, Luis Saenz, the London-based head of equity and derivatives sales and trading… Continue Reading

Ex-Kremlin think tank predicts political turmoil in Russia

By Andrei Skvarsky. A think tank that used to be a strategic economic planning centre for the Kremlin argues that “growing discontent” with President Vladimir Putin and his government is likely to precipitate mounting nationwide public unrest. The forecast comes in a report released last week by the Centre for Strategic Research (CSR), a Moscow-based… Continue Reading

RVC hosts RVC Smart Future: InvestDay

   The Russian Venture Company (RVC) will host from October 31 to November 3, 2012 the RVC SmartFuture: InvestDay conference. It will be held within the framework of the Moscow International Forum of innovative development (MIFID) “Open Innovation”.     RVC SmartFuture: InvestDay is a series of events for current and potential investors in technology… Continue Reading

Sberbank CIB lends $1bn to Belarus fertilizer producer

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, the newly set-up corporate and investment arm of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has extended a three-year $1bn loan to Belarussian potash fertilizer producer Belaruskali. The purpose of the loan is to enable Belaruskali to refinance a one-year $1bn syndicated bridge loan received by it from Sberbank and Eurasian Development Bank… Continue Reading

European Parliament urges visa ban, asset freeze for Magnitsky’s alleged killers

By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Parliament on Tuesday passed a non-binding resolution calling for tough European Union-wide sanctions against Russian officials blamed for the allegedly unlawful arrest of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for British investment fund Hermitage Capital, and his death in custody in 2009. The resolution recommends that the EU Council, effectively the Union’s top… Continue Reading

Sberbank strikes loan deal with Russian railways monopoly

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, a unit of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and a former division of Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog, has opened short-term credit lines to a total of 50bn rubles ($1.62bn) for Russian railways monopoly RZD. The loan aims to “allow [RZD] to alleviate its short-term financing needs with the goal of more… Continue Reading

Geneva’s Lombard Odier says eurozone breakup inevitable

By Andrei Skvarsky.  Geneva-based Lombard Odier, one of Europe’s largest private banking firms, predicts that the euro will survive as a currency, albeit significantly restructured, but that the eurozone will inevitably part company with some of its constituent countries. The currency needs restructuring if it is to survive, according to Paul Marson, a top Lombard… Continue Reading

Russia and commodity prices in the new IMF report

By Dieter Wermuth, Chief Economist, Wermuth Asset Management According to the International Monetary Fund, Russia’s real GDP will expand by 3.7 % y/y in 2012, and by 3.8% next year. Growth continues to be revised down in response to the slowdown of world output. It seems that the new medium term growth rate is in… Continue Reading

Russian PE support fund buys $50m chunk of medical firm

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a sovereign co-investment institution tasked with supporting private equity projects in Russia, has invested $50m in health care firm MD Medical Group (MDMG) during the latter’s recent initial public offering of shares in London. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and Russian private equity fund Siguler Guff’s Russia Partners… Continue Reading

Bank of Georgia’s investment case marred by political uncertainty – RenCap

By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital analysts warn that investing in Bank of Georgia, until now one of the best-performing banks within the boundaries of the former Soviet Union, poses some risks today due to post-election political uncertainty in its home country. Georgian Dream, a coalition that beat the ruling United National Movement (UNM) in Georgia’s parliamentary… Continue Reading