Merrill Lynch had declined to comment on a report that star trader Paval Naumenko has been hired by the US bank in Moscow. The report in yesterday’s Vedomosti said Naumenko, who had worked at Renaissance Capital until last year, had been hired and would report to Bernie Sucher, head of global markets for Russia. However,… Continue Reading
Alfa Bank merges investment bank with its corporate bank
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow Russia’s Alfa Bank is merging its investment bank with its corporate bank into one division. The new unit will be aimed at increasing Alfa’s ability to sell products ranging from loans to advice on takeovers to its 40,000 plus corporate clients. The move mirrors a decision taken by Citigroup in… Continue Reading
Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch advise Sistema on $1.27bn Comstar deal
Investment banks Credit Suisse and Merill Lynch have have advised the conglomerate Sistema on the $1.2bn sale of a 50.9% stake in fixed-line telecoms provider Comstar UTS to mobile operator MTS. The deal between the two Sistema subsidiaries is scheduled to close at the end of October, while no decision has been made regarding the… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russian issuers face up to onerous new limits on foreign IPOs
New Russian foreign listing rules could hike the cost of equity capital for Russia companies at a time when many of them are over-leveraged and starved for equity financing, according to the Corporate Department of Latham & Watkins in Moscow. In June 2009, the Russian Federal Service for the Financial Markets (FSFM) published proposed amendments… Continue Reading
VEB cleared to invest in non-sovereign bonds by November
By Ivan Anderzhanov in Moscow Russia’s state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) will be allowed to purchase non-government bonds by November, according to new rules expected to be approved by the government shortly. The new rules will enable VEB to increase its portfolio allocation of non-sovereign bonds to 40%. The credit rating of the bonds, other… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Watch Kazakhstan for Russian banks’ path out of crisis
By Rustam Botashev, Equity Analyst at Unicredit Securities Total non-performing loans (NPLs) in Kazakhstan reached 30.8% as of 1 July, but a more manageable 14.4% excluding BTA and Alliance, and we expect a gradual economic recovery to keep banks from being washed away in an NPL flood. The aggregate 30.8% figure is skewed by the… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russia’s equity market – rising like a phoenix
Angelika Millendorfer, Head of Emerging Markets Equities at Raiffeisen Capital Management. Russia’s equity market was one of the biggest losers last year. But since the beginning of 2009, it has been one of the top performers even though a strong correction swept the market in June and July. So far prices are up by around… Continue Reading
Hires & Fires: Troika Dialog hire sales and trading duo in London
Russian brokerage Troika has hired two sale and trading executives in London to replace a team that quit for rival bank VTB Capital in June. Troika has tapped Jim Bevan and Marcus Martin from Japanese bank Nomura in London. The pair are believed to be on gardening leave until they start at the end of… Continue Reading
Raiffeisen boosts capital by €1.3bn as second wave of bad debt looms
Raiffeisen International, the Austrian group with an extensive Russian and Eastern Europe network, has bolstered its core capital by raising €1.25bn, as banks in the region get ready for the next wave of bad debt due to hit next month. The group announced today itwill issue €600m in participation rights and €650m in hybrid Tier… Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russia may tap Wellbeing fund to finance budget deficit in 2010
By Vladimir Osakovsky, Head of Strategy and Research for UniCredit Securities. Russia might start to use its second sovereign wealth fund – Wellbeing Fund ($89.9bn as of 1 July 2009) to finance the federal budget deficit in 2010. To finance a roughly 3,000bn roubles ($98bn) federal budget deficit in 2009, the Finance Ministry is actively… Continue Reading
JP Morgan knocks Troika Dialog off its Russian M&A perch
Western investment bank JP Morgan has knocked Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog off the top M&A adviser perch in Russia during the first half of 2009, according to data provider Mergermarket. JP Morgan has so far advised on three deals with a total value of $6.2bn, while Troika lags in joint 12th position having only advised… Continue Reading
Hires & Fires: Unicredit hires senior sales exec Uebel/ Credit Agricole appoints Matthias Warnig/ RTS adds board member
Italian bank UniCredit has recently hired the experienced Patrick Uebel from Deutsche Bank as a senior international equity sales executive covering clients in Europe, the US and the UK. German-national Uebel had spent less than a year at Deutsche Bank in Moscow in its equity division. He had previously worked at DWS, the German bank’s… Continue Reading
Revealed: Russian computer whizz in Goldman Sachs trading storm started his career as a trainspotter
Sergey Aleynikov, the Russian-born computer developer charged with stealing precious Goldman Sachs‘ trading codes, started his career at the Ministry for Transportation in Moscow as a trainspotter. Aleynikov, a naturalised US citizen who emigrated from Russia in 1991, allegedly unlawfully copied, duplicated, downloaded and transferred computer codes from Goldman Sachs and uploaded the codes to… Continue Reading
Hires & Fires: Goldman banker surfaces at McKinsey/ Oligarch hires Merrill banker/ Nayak boost Deutsche's structuring team
Igor Livant, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs in Moscow, has surfaced as an associate principal at consultants McKinsey & Company. Livant, who left the American investment bank in February, had been at Goldman’s for three an a half years. He has extensive experience in equity and M&A deals in Russia and the CIS.… Continue Reading
BLOG: VTB Capital targets Gulf's sovereign wealth billions
Jason Cororan in Moscow VTB Capital, the investment banking arm of state-controlled VTB bank, has hired ten staff for its new Dubai operation in a bid to lure sovereign Gulf money to Russia. The bank is attempting to set itself up as a conduit for Middle East sovereign wealth money which might be interested in… Continue Reading
EBRD bolsters Troika as banking system battens down the hatches
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has approved a $150 million five-year loan for Troika Dialog as part of the development bank’s $500m package to buttress Russian banks against a second wave of bad debt, which is expected to peak in two months time. The loan comes three months after South Africa’s Standard Bank… Continue Reading
Exclusive: VTB hiring spree continues/ Aton Capital ramps up/ Troika appoints UK CEO
Hires & Fires VTB Capital, the Russian investment bank, is carrying on its hiring spree with the appointment of Ivan Tchebeskov from Swiss bank UBS as a director of equity sales. Tchbeskov had been a director for Russian equities at UBS for three years in Moscow and New York. VTB, which last week lured a… Continue Reading
Hires & Fires: Kandel quits Unicredit as Aton ramps up/ Blackrock parts company with Monoviski
By Taras Rybak in London Alexander Kandel, chief executive and head of investment banking at Italy’s UniCredit Securities in Moscow, is leaving the group just as it is engaged in a battle with Russian bank Aton for its staff. UniCredit said Kandel was leaving shortly for “personal reasons” to take some time out and would… Continue Reading
Hires n Fires: HSBC names Sekora head of personal services/ Former RIM executive joins Fink fund
British banking giant HSBC has named Johan Sekora as head of personal financial services ahead of its formal launch into retail banking in Russia next Tuesday. Sekora will be responsible for launching, rolling out and managing the bank’s Russian retail operations. Sekora, who will be based in the bank’s Moscow headquarters, has been with HSBC… Continue Reading
Renaissance Capital is axing its annual investment forum / Senior executives are leaving Troika Dialog
Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital is axing its annual investment forum showcase in Moscow following a turbulent nine months when it has been forced to cut 50% of its staff and sell half of the company to billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov. The three-day forum has in the past attracted thousands of investors and fund managers… Continue Reading
Hires/Fires: Nomura boosts Russian research effort/ VTB Capital carry on hiring
Japanese investment bank Nomura has boosted its Russian research effort with the appointment of Ivan Tchakarov as an economist and Vladimir Zhukov as an equity analyst. Tchakarov, a Russian economist, is to be based in London while Zhukov will cover steel and raw materials from Nomura’s Moscow base. Zhukov had previously worked at Lehman Brothers… Continue Reading
VTB Capital hires equity sales gunslinger Capone/ ING's Wood hits the road
Exclusive: Hires/Fires Russian investment bank VTB Capital has recruited sales gunslinger Michael Capone from Goldman Sachs in Moscow for its own growing equity sales team. The VTB press office declined to comment whether the recruitment of Capone represented an end to its hiring freeze. American Capone, an executive director at Goldman Sachs in Russia, joined… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog taps Nazarov from Credit Suisse for IB
Alexander Nazarov has defected to Troika Dialog from Credit Suisse, where he worked as director of the investment banking. Nazarov will join Troika as managing director in investment banking and will report to Jacques Der Megreditchian, Managing Director, Head of Investment Banking and Global Markets at the Troika Dialog Group. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr.… Continue Reading
Emerging Markets: Russian International Reserves Decline
Russia’s international reserves declined for the second straight week as the strengthening dollar caused a currency revaluation. The world’s third-largest stockpile declined $1.1bn in the week to April 10 to $383.9bn, the Moscow-based central bank said yesterday. Reserves dropped $3bn in the previous week for the first fall in three weeks. “We put the fall… Continue Reading
Blog: Investors shy away from Russia's bubbling equity market
Investors fishing for emerging markets prefer to cast their line for commodities in Brazil rather than cast into Russia’s waters. The latest data last week from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research indicate new inflows into funds covering Brazil worth $462m while Russia funds reported a measly intake of $18m. While capital flows into Russia-dedicated funds dipped… Continue Reading
BRIC banks being built to last
Banks in the BRIC world of emerging markets are in better nick than their counterparts in the US and Europe, according to Allianz Global Investors, one of the world’s largest active fund managers. Allianz, a investment subsidiary of the German insurer with £850bn under management, said the lack of exposure to the toxic assets plaguing… Continue Reading
Blog: The Revolution is dead, long live the USSR
The respective orange, rose and tulip revolutions of Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have wilted less than six years since they first blossomed. The 2005 Tulip Revolution, which overthrew the government of President Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan, did not transform this Central Asian republic into a blooming garden. The same is true of Georgia and Ukraine,… Continue Reading
Renaissance Capital wins first mandate from Prokhorov
Renaissance Capital has come up with an M&A authorization for major shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov since he holds a 50%-minus one share in the bank. RenCap is advising Onexim, (Prokhorov’s investment vehicle); the same company that helped Prokhorov acquire a share in the bank last September on the purchase of 65% share in RBC Information Systems… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog appoints Boris Todorov as Director of Risk Management
In challenging times for global credit markets, Troika Dialog – leading Russian emerging markets investment bank is strengthening its Risk and Capital Management Division. As Troika Dialog’s Director of Risk Management, Boris Todorov will oversee market and credit risk within Troika Dialog’s Broker, Asset Management and Private Equity divisions. Mr. Todorov will report to Richard… Continue Reading