By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow brokerage Aton has appointed Oleg Puntusov, a former Troika Dialog banker, as head of its private banking business in northwestern Russia. Puntusov, who began his stock market career in 1998, worked at Troika offices in the Russian cities of Samara and Togliatti and later headed Troika’s branches in Nizhny Novgorod and… Continue Reading
RenCap carries out reshuffle to beef up equity products group
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has carried through an internal reshuffle to improve cross-regional coordination in its equity products group by making senior appointments in New York, London, Russia and South Africa. Rupert Hope and Florian Hellmich were promoted to global co-heads of distribution in New York and London respectively. They will oversee operations in… Continue Reading
UBS puts ex-Credit Suisse banker in charge of Russia business
By Andrei Skvarsky. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has hired Anush Simonian from rival Swiss lender Credit Suisse as its investment banking chief in Russia. Simonian replaces Antanas Petrosius, who remains deputy head for Russia and who also comes from Credit Suisse, having joined UBS in June last year. He will focus on key clients, according… Continue Reading
VTB Capital CEE's debt capital market leader – Dealogic
By Andrei Skvarsky. VTB Capital holds the top position in terms of debt capital deals volume in Central and Eastern Europe in a league table for 2012 compiled by Dealogic, a global financial consultancy and information provider. The brokerage arm of Russia’s VTB Group was also the number one organiser of Eurobond issues in Russia and… Continue Reading
Moscow’s Aton hires ex-govt official to run Yekaterinburg unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based brokerage Aton has hired Viktor Dolzhenko, until then a senior regional government officer for investment, as head of its branch in Yekaterinburg. Before his two-year tenure as deputy minister for investment and development of the Sverdlovsk region, Dolzhenko headed Troika Dialog’s office in Yekaterinburg, the administrative centre of the region, which… Continue Reading
RenCap “most innovative bank” in CEE – The Banker
Renaissance Capital has been declared this year’s “most innovative bank” in Central and Eastern Europe by The Banker, a Financial Times group monthly and a leading source of global financial information. RenCap’s rivals on the award shortlist were VTB Capital and Troika Dialog, which has been renamed Sberbank CIB with the exception of its asset… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan organise London IPO for Russian health care firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have organised what will be the first IPO of a Russian healthcare firm on the London Stock Exchange. MD Medical Group Investments Plc, a leading provider of private health care for women and children, expects to raise between $295m and $343m via its IPO of global depositary… Continue Reading
Troika corporate and investment unit renamed Sberbank CIB
Troika Dialog has announced that its corporate and investment division will be named Sberbank CIB (legal name CJSC Sberbank CIB) effective from October 8. The asset management division of the Moscow-based investment bank will also be renamed but will be called Troika Dialog AM until its rebranding process is over. Sberbank CIB will focus on corporate… Continue Reading
Russian capital markets hooked up to Euroclear system
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Euroclear financial services company has plugged Russia’s capital markets into its pan-European settlement and clearing system, according to Business New Europe (BNE). The Brussels-based system is now open to OFZs, one of the most actively traded classes of Russian government bonds, and to other Russian government and municipal bonds, corporate bonds… Continue Reading
RenCap hires ex-Morgan Stanley banker to run ECM & DCM business
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Isabella da Costa Mendes from Morgan Stanley as head of equity capital markets and debt capital markets execution. Da Costa Mendes is based in London, RenCap said. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Da Costa Mendes worked for 10 years at JP Morgan, where she held positions… Continue Reading
Baring Vostok Capital Partners raises $1.5 billion for investment in Russia
Equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners has raised the largest investment fund in Russia totaling $1.5 billion to invest in local internet projects, financial services and the resources industry. Moscow-based Baring Vostok, headed by former banker Michael Calvey, Alexey Kalinin and Elena Ivashentseva, has attracted $1.15 billion for its fifth main fund, Baring Vostok Private… Continue Reading
BrokerCreditService makes one more hire from Otkritie
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s BrokerCreditService (BCS) has hired Olga Naydenova from Otkritie as senior financial research analyst in Moscow, recruiting one more in a series of bankers and analysts who have come over from the rival Russian broker over the past several months. Naydenova took up her BCS job today, Luis Saenz, the London-based head… Continue Reading
Raiffeisen, Sberbank co-run Eurasian Development Bank’s Eurobond sale
By Andrei Skvarsky. Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Sberbank CIB, a former unit of Troika Dialog, co-managed the recent successful sale of the Russian ruble-denominated Eurobonds by Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), an international institution set up by the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan. The five-year securities with maximum 8% yields made up what was the first-ever… Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-Merrill banker in boosting investment team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank CIB, a former Troika Dialog division, has hired Vlada Gosal from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) as managing director for debt capital markets in building out an investment banking platform for parent firm Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Gosal took up her new role on Monday, according to a statement from Troika,… Continue Reading
GOLDMAN SACHS COMMENT: Some Questions for the Asian Economic Century
By Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. I returned from a quick trip through parts of Asia on Saturday, thinking that we have reached a critical stage in terms of economic policy and development in many parts of that region, especially in terms of whether this century will turn out to be “theirs” in… Continue Reading
BlackRock buys stake in Micex-RTS with RDIF support
By Andrei Skvarsky. Funds run by BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, have bought an undisclosed number of shares in Moscow’s Micex-RTS exchange with support from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a sovereign co-investment fund whose task is to attract foreign private equity to Russia. The sale of the stake to funds managed by… Continue Reading
BrokerCreditService hires ex-UBS analyst as chief strategist
By Andrei Skvarsky. BrokerCreditService (BCS), a Russian stock trader, has hired Kirill Chuyko from Swiss Bank UBS as chief strategist, senior metals and mining analyst and co-head of equity research. Chuyko, who was a senior Moscow-based metals and mining analyst for UBS for the past two years, took up his BCS job on Thursday, according to… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Troika Dialog hires ex-RenCap banker to co-run equity sales trading
By Andrei Skvarsky. Troika Dialog has hired Robert Hagon from Renaissance Capital as co-head of equity sales trading, an appointment that is part of the Moscow-based brokerage’s current integration with Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Hagon has already taken up his duties in the London office of Troika, whose merger with Sberbank aims to give the… Continue Reading
Deutsche Bank replaces head of Russian unit
Deutsche Bank has appointed Pavel Teplukhin, a co-founder of Russian brokerage Troika Dialog, as chief executive of the Russian unit of Germany’s largest lender. Teplukhin takes up his new role on October 1, according to Reuters. He replaces Igor Lojevsky, whose contract has expired. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Russia’s BCS beefs up research team with new hire
By Andrei Skvarsky. BrokerCreditService (BCS), a Russian firm pressing for leading positions in Russia’s financial markets, has made one more in a recent series of major hires, recruiting Vladimir (Vlad) Kuznetsov from UniCredit as a senior consumer analyst, Luis Saenz, head of equity sales and trading at BCS, told EmergingMarkets.me. Kuznetsov joined UniCredit’s Russian operation… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog has one more unit renamed in merging with Sberbank
Russia’s Troika Dialog has had one more division renamed as part of its current merger with Sberbank, with Investment Company Troika Dialog changing its name to Sberbank CIB. The renaming is “one of the final stages” of Troika Dialog’s integration with Russia’s biggest lender, a project aiming to give the latter a foothold in the… Continue Reading
VTB hires ‘global icon’ Jim Rogers as agricultural investment adviser
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s VTB Capital has hired Jim Rogers, an American investor and economist who in 1998 created the Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI), as an adviser to its agricultural division. Rogers, the 69-year-old author of several books who is based in Singapore and is chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, joined forces with… Continue Reading
RDIF: pension money good source of Russian stock market liquidity
By Andrei Skvarsky. The chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, has suggested issuing infrastructure bonds, setting up index funds and investing much of the pension system’s money as key ways of boosting the liquidity of Russia’s stock market. Infrastructure bonds “could be used to finance development of the Far East… Continue Reading
Micex-RTS likely to stay shut from Dec 29 to Jan 7
Micex-RTS top brass have recommended that Moscow’s stock exchange stay closed for 10 days from December 29 to January 7, a period practically coinciding with Russia’s national non-working season. However, as a general principle, the top management recommended keeping trade going at Micex-RTS on Russian public non-working days if they make up more than one… Continue Reading
RenCap makes two promotions in Africa equity products team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has announced two promotions in its Africa-focused equity products group, with Ali Khalpey being appointed as head of South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa equities and Stanley Kariuki as head of equities for Kenya. Khalpey, who joined Renaissance in January 2010 and is based in Johannesburg, was head of equities for… Continue Reading
Russian banks short of business developers, CIB senior managers
By Andrei Skvarsky. Professionals who can fill positions of business development director and corporate and investment banking senior manager are some of those that Russian banks have the highest demand for, according to international recruitment company Antal. There are shortages of managers in various sectors of Russia’s economy, according to a statement from the headhunter.… Continue Reading
Gazprombank hires Troika Dialog’s DePoy as equity strategist
By Andrei Skvarsky. Gazprombank, the banking arm of gas giant Gazprom and Russia’s third-biggest lender by assets, has hired Erik DePoy from Troika Dialog as equity strategist. DePoy, who has more than 14 years of experience in the Russian market, spent nearly nine years at Alfa-Bank, first as a research editor and then as equity… Continue Reading
Russian Central Bank to sell part of stake in Sberbank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Central Bank plans to sell off some of its shares in Sberbank, a move that would still leave the overseer of Russia’s monetary system in control of the country’s biggest lender. Up to 1,712,994,999 ordinary shares, which make up 7.58% of Sberbank’s capital, would go on sale, according to a statement from… Continue Reading
Otkritie hires Micex-RTS chief Aganbegyan as CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Otkritie Financial Corp has hired Ruben Aganbegyan, who is stepping down as president of Moscow’s Micex-RTS stock exchange, as its chief executive. An Otkritie spokeswoman confirmed the appointment to EmergingMarkets.me. Aganbegyan replaces Vadim Belyaev, who will become president of Nomos-Bank, a Moscow institution being taken over by Otkritie in a deal… Continue Reading