By James Beadle, Global & Emerging Market Strategist, Market-Melange.com Russia’s under-performance relative to its BRIC peers is justified and well-explained. Yet, it also creates upside potential. Russia is beginning a new development phase, which creates opportunity and makes it an attractive buy for 2010. The potential for decisive progress is limited and many systematic problems… Continue Reading
Belgium's KBC to sell Russia's Absolut bank
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Belgian financial group KBC Group is looking to sell Absolut Bank only two years after acquiring its key Russian asset for $1bn. Analysts suggested that the most likely buyer would be another foreign group keen to gain access to the Russian banking sector. KBC needs to slash the size of… Continue Reading
Rencap hires Igor Kamenskoy as chairman of the board
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Renaissance Capital today announced the appointment of a senior politician Igor Kamenskoy as chairman of the board. A long-serving member of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of Parliament, Kamenskoy will oversee Renaissance’s relationships with Russian government agencies and regulators as well as state corporations. Kamenskoy’s appointment will become effective… Continue Reading
Exclusive: LSE Russian team sees future for dual listings
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow The London Stock Exchange believes dual Russian stock listings in Moscow and London will endure in spite of plans to curb the amount firms can sell overseas. The new rules, which are due to come into force from January 1, aim to restrict domestic companies from running to foreign exchanges… Continue Reading
JP Morgan and Alfa lose out as Eurasia Drilling pulls GDR placement
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Russian oil industry services firm Eurasia Drilling yesterday annouced it had cancelled plans to place Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) after bids failed to match its expectations. Investment bankers at JP Morgan and Alfa Bank will lose out having been mandated as joint bookrunners. JP Morgan was also the sole global… Continue Reading
Hermitage lawyer Sergey Magnitskiy dies in Russian prison
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow A lawyer jailed on charges of helping William Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management evade taxes has died in a Moscow detention centre’s hospital. Sergey Magnitskiy, 37, died yesterday at 9.50pm in Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention centre in Moscow of apparent toxic shock and heart failure. Magnitsky, a 37-year-old partner at Moscow… Continue Reading
MSCI adds Inter RAO and Sberbank to its emerging markets index
By Ivan Anderzhanov MSCI added Inter RAO and Sberbank’s preference shares to its emerging markets index yesterday in place of Rostelecom and Transneft shares. Sberbank’s preferred shares were first added to the index in 2006 but were removed following a drop in the company’s market capitalisation. Sberbank’s weight in the emerging-markets index will be 0.06%,… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russian banks: back to the future
By Rustam Botashev, equities analyst at UniCredit Securities Pre-crisis profits already priced in for VTB, but Sberbank and VZRZ still have room for positive surprises VTB promises to reach pre-crisis profits in 2010; we see this as possible for all banks under coverage. Bankers are suddenly talking about making solid earnings in 2010E; VTB even… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russian Reform – A Realistic Prospect?
By James Beadle, Global & Emerging Market Strategist, Market-Melange.com Recent reports of Kremlin-infighting are partially accurate. Expect sharp swings in investor sentiment, creating good opportunities to make money, but no radical changes to Russia’s economic & political system. Although the mass-media remain sceptical, in-depth analytical sources and business intelligence groups – such as Stratfor –… Continue Reading
Otkritie continues hiring spree
By Ivan Anderzhanov Russian brokerage firm Otkritie has continued its hiring spree by recruiting Alexander Zakharov as director of international sales in Moscow. Zakharov, who was previously deputy head of equities at Metropol, takes on a new role to oversee efforts to work with institutional clients in continental Europe. He had joined Metropol in 2007… Continue Reading
'Anyone investing in Russia today is out of their mind,' warns Browder
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Famed Russian fund manager Bill Browder has warned students of his alma mater at Stanford in the US that anyone investing in Russia now “is completely out of their mind.” Browder, who established Hermitage Capital in 1996, was once the largest foreign owner of Russian stock. His visa was revoked… Continue Reading
VTB Capital to roadshow PPP waste plant in London
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow VTB Capital in conjunction with the St Petersburg government is to hold a roadshow in London for the public private partnership (PPP) Yanino waste processing plant. Financial, legal and technical advisors for the City of St Petersburg are VTB Capital, DLA Piper and Arup respectively. The project for the 350… Continue Reading
Saxo acquires trading and IT expertise in India and the Ukraine
By Ivan Anderzhanov Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has today announced the acquisition of a 40% stake in Initto, the Danish owned software provider with 200 staff located mainly in India and Ukraine. The company said the acquisition of Initto will enable it continue to support and speed up the development of… Continue Reading
Exclusive: Goldman hires Mike Workman from UBS ahead of sovereign Eurobond decision
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Goldman Sachs have hired Michael Workman from UBS for a senior role in fixed income just as the US investment bank expects to land a key role on Russia’s $17bn Sovereign Eurobond issue. The Wall Street Bank declined to comment but a source close to Goldman Sachs in Moscow confirmed… Continue Reading
Lukoil mandates Barcap, RBS and ING for $1.5bn Eurobond
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Russian oil giant Lukoil has returned to the debt capital markets for the first time in 18 months yesterday with a bumper $1.5bn Eurobond deal arranged by Barcap, Royal Bank of Scotland and ING. Lukoil priced two tranches of debt, maturing in five and 10 years. The five-year tranche, worth… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Brazil’s tax on foreign equity investment may divert cash to Russia
By Julia Bushueva, strategist at Unicredit Securities Last week’s decision by the Brazilian government to reintroduce a 2% tax on foreign investment in local stocks and bonds in order to prevent bubbles and cool down the market is likely to boost trading in Brazilian ADRs, we believe, but may divert cash to the Russian stock… Continue Reading
VEB to flip $7.8bn back onto the Russian stock market ?
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow State development agency VEB is in talks with the Finance Ministry over flipping its estimated $7.8bn porfolio of stakes in Russian blue-chips back onto the stock market. Vedomosti today quoted a source close to VEB as saying that it would be rational for the agency to gradually sell shares in… Continue Reading
EBRD teams up with Kayzna to launch $300m private equity fund
By Jason Corcoran Kazyna Capital Management, the private equity arm of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, is combining with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to set up a $300m vehicle to invest in distressed companies. The fund will focus on financing of companies experiencing problems with repaying their debt. Its main task will… Continue Reading
Exclusive: Prosperity Capital to launch new Quest fund vehicle
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Prosperity Capital Management, the largest Russian portfolio manager, is setting up a new recovery vehicle in a bid to capture the spectacular 41% annualised returns achieved by the original Quest fund launched in 1999. The Prosperity Capital Quest II special situations fund will target restructurings and consolidation opportunities in Russia’s… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Tymoshenko announces resolution roadmap for Ukraine's two large banks
By Yevhen Hrebeniuk, Senior Analyst at Troika Dialog Ukraine Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has outlined the resolution approaches that are set to be approved by the cabinet and applied to the two remaining large banks that have yet to be recapitalized: Nadra Bank and Ukrprombank. The government will transfer Ukrprombank’s deposits and valuable assets… Continue Reading
Exclusive: Ghavami to head Troika’s global markets team in senior shake-up
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Russian investment bank Troika Dialog has appointed Peter Ghavami as head of global markets in a shake-up of its senior team following the completion of the integration of Standard Bank’s operation in Moscow. Insiders at Troika indicated Ghavami had been given the key role after the completion of the merger… Continue Reading
Standard Bank raises $1bn from Chinese banks for Asian expansion
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Standard Bank, the emerging markets banking group, has raised $1bn loan facility with four major Chinese banks in Macau today. The four banks are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) Limited; Bank of China; China Development Bank and China CITIC Bank. The club deal was self arranged by Standard… Continue Reading
Aganbegyan switches CEO for President post at RenCap / Credit Suisse hires senior investment banker from Merrill
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow. Renaissance Capital’s rainmaker Ruben Aganbegyan has relinquished his role as chief executive of the investment bank after being appointed yesterday as its president. A RenCap spokesman said Aganbegyan appointment was a promotion and would not dilute his position as its key client and government relationship banker. Aganbegyan, who joined the… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Government expects the start of economic recovery in 2H09
Vladimir Osakovsky, Head of Strategy and Research at Unicredit Securities at Moscow. Russian Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina said that the Russian economy is ready to recover and expects real GDP to grow by 3.9%-4.5% hoh in 2H09, Vedomosti reports. Nabiullina’s comments come after similar optimistic statements from First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov… Continue Reading
Barclays scoop up VTB CFO to lead its Russia business
Jason Corcoran in Moscow British bank Barclays has hired Nikolai Tsekhomsky as chief executive from Russian state bank VTB to head up its global retail and commercial banking business in Russia. Tsekhomsky, who has only just stepped down today from VTB after four years as its chief financial officer, will takeover from Sergey Radchenkov, who… Continue Reading
BTA wins injunction to freeze assets of former top managers
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow The English High Court has granted troubled Kazakh bank BTA a worldwide freezing injunction against the assets of former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov and other former top managers. The bank said in a press statement that it has started legal proceedings in the High Court against Ablyazov, Roman Solodchenko, the former… Continue Reading
Hires & Fires: Equity departures heap pressure on UniCredit in Moscow
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow UniCredit Securities in Moscow, which has lost staff to resurrected investment bank Aton in recent months, has suffered another blow following the departures of its head of equities Steven Dashevsky and equity analyst Anna Kochkina. A source close to UniCredit said Dashevsky was not joining a group of colleagues who… Continue Reading
Rencap's $612m Sistema bond mandate takes its recent dealfow over $2bn
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Russia’s Renaissance Capital has been appointed as lead manager and bookrunner for a 20bn rouble bond ($612m) by conglomerate Sistema which caps a string of deals worth over $2bn during the past month. The Sistema rouble bond is the biggest of the year and beats the recent 15 billion ruble… Continue Reading
Analysts fret over Raiffeisen and its level of non-performing loans in Russia
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow The analyst community fretted as they poured over the news yesterday that Raiffeisen non-performing loans in Russia have jumped from to 7.2% by the end of June from 2% at the end of 2009. The interim report shows that the Austrian bank earned almost nothing in Russia during the second… Continue Reading