By Andrei Skvarsky. European Principal Finance (EPF), a business franchised by New York-headquartered global asset manager Apollo, has bought an 842m-euro ($923m) portfolio of 68 commercial and residential real estate properties from an Italian pension fund. The properties include hotel, retail, logistics and parking assets and are mostly located in Rome and Milan, Apollo said… Continue Reading
EVENT UPDATE: Commodities Trading USA, June 7-8
Energy transition, cutting-edge technologies and financing issues are among a variety of points to be discussed at Commodities Trading USA 2022, a planned conference in Houston, Texas, on June 7-8 organised by Reuters Events. Four themes will be in the focus of this in-person forum: – impacts of energy transition; – digitalisation of trading, including… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Struggle between two factors to keep gold price stable
London-based brokerage ActivTrades forecasts that the price of gold, which stayed flat on March 15, will remain stable for the foreseeable period as it is the result of a current tug-of-war between two factors that are almost equally powerful – a U.S. inflation control policy and geopolitical risks stirred by the ongoing war in Ukraine.… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Three events to be hosted by Opal in Florida town on March 27-29
Conference organiser Opal Group is going to host three in-person annual financial events in Palm Beach, a town in Florida, on March 27-29. They are: ESG & Impact Investing Forum, a conference to look at opportunities in various asset classes for investment aiming to produce environmental, social and governance impacts alongside yielding substantial returns; Opal… Continue Reading
Deutsche Boerse joins forces with AirCarbon Exchange in emissions quotas trade
By Andrei Skvarsky. Deutsche Boerse (DB1) has made an investment in AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) in what is expected to result in synergic collaboration between Singapore-based ACX and DB1 subsidiary European Energy Exchange (EEX) in selling carbon credits, greenhouse gas emission quotas. ACX, a carbon allowances trading specialist, did not disclose the exact sum received from… Continue Reading
Reuters Events, Tradecloud: Understanding energy transition crucial to commodities trading
A business strategy geared to energy transition requirements is crucial to successful trading in commodities today, according to a report released by Reuters Events, organisers of Commodities Trading USA 2022, a planned conference in June. “Commodities Trading 2022. Market Insight Report”, written by Reuters Events in partnership with supply chain platform Tradecloud, says the energy… Continue Reading
Starting a business costs under $15.5 in UK, over $2,200 in Italy – money.co.uk
By Andrei Skvarsky. The minimum cost of setting up a business in Britain is less than $15.5, making the country the best place in Europe to choose an entrepreneurial career, according to money.co.uk, specialists in comparing financial products and services. The exact minimum sum needed to establish a firm in Britain is 11.68 pounds ($15.45),… Continue Reading
Technical mistake blamed for Russia’s Ozon Bank being under U.S. sanctions
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian online retailer Ozon on February 25 blamed a technical mistake for its subsidiary Ozon Bank’s being among Russian entities and individuals sanctioned by the United States for presumed roles in Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine. Ozon said in a statement it would ask the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of… Continue Reading
Euronext Dublin registers 5-year $5bn Eurobond programme to be launched by Russia’s Sovcombank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Euronext Dublin (the Irish Stock Exchange) has registered a five-year framework $5bn Eurobond programme to be launched by Sovcombank, one of Russia’s top ten lenders. Multinational investment banks J.P. Morgan and Renaissance Capital are acting as co-arrangers of the programme while Bank of New York Mellon is the trustee and principal paying… Continue Reading
Russia to give cryptocurrencies full legitimacy, scraps ban proposal
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian government has announced a plan to grant full-scale legality to cryptocurrencies as the central bank has obviously ditched a proposal for what, to all intents and purposes, would have been a blanket ban on digital money. Today cryptocurrencies have an ambiguous legal status in Russia. While it is allowed to… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank announces restructuring, staff moves
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, on February 15 announced plans for structural changes and for a consequent senior staff reshuffle. The changes are due to be completed by June 1, 2022, according to a statement from the bank. Sberbank’s key non-banking business, e-commerce, would be overseen by a holding company to be set… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Commodities Trading USA 2022, Houston, June 7-8
Oil majors BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Eni and banking giants Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas will be among participants in Commodities Trading USA 2022, an in-person conference in Houston on June 7-8 organised by Reuters Events. The forum will take an overview of global commodities trade and focus on key present-day features of global… Continue Reading
Sumsub anti-fraud kit largely explains good record of Paybis crypto bourse – statement
By Andrei Skvarsky. Cryptocurrency exchange Paybis puts down much of its apparently successful performance over the past year and a half to a holistic and customisable fraud detection toolkit obtained from the Sumsub identity verification firm. Under the terms of an August 2020 deal, Sumsub has provided Paybis with an all-in-one solution enabling the crypto… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Investment Education Symposium, New Orleans, Feb 23-25
Investment communities in various countries are resuming post-lockdown in-person events, and the planned Investment Education Symposium 2022 in New Orleans on February 23-25 is one of them. The conference will address aspects of both traditional and alternative investment, fiduciary responsibility and selection of money managers for U.S. pension funds, endowments, foundations and other institutional investors. Investment… Continue Reading
Tinkoff, Finam Russia’s top investment brokers – Financer survey
By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by Financer, multinational specialists in comparing financial services and products, suggests that Tinkoff Investments and Finam are Russia’s best-performing investment brokerages. Tinkoff Investments, a unit of Tinkoff Bank, offers a quick and simple account opening procedure, a large choice of instruments for investment and a convenient mobile app, according to… Continue Reading
YouTubing good alternative to 9 to 5 job but much depends on where one lives – Reboot
By Andrei Skvarsky. Making a living through paid content on YouTube is a tempting alternative to a 9 to 5 job but is a more challenging task in Western Europe than in the east of the continent because of different salary and price levels, a study by marketing agency Reboot suggests. A YouTuber living in… Continue Reading
ETF tops list of finance abbreviations Americans seek to know more about – study
By Andrei Skvarsky. Among hundreds of financial abbreviations that the average American cannot but wants to understand, ETF (“exchange-traded fund”) is the target of the largest annual number of online searches, according to British price comparison online company money.co.uk. There are on average 114,160 online searches per year in the United States, a nation of… Continue Reading
RenCap: Russian economy too resilient to be crippled by U.S. sanctions
By Andrei Skvarsky. An analysis by investment bank Renaissance Capital suggests that the Russian economy’s degree of resilience practically rules out it being sent haywire by Ukraine-related sanctions the White House has on the table and that harsher sanctions might have exorbitant international costs for the United States. Sanctions formulated in a bill put before… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank confirms Ekaterina Latypova as head of agile
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has definitively appointed vice-president Ekaterina Latypova as head of agile transformation, a position she has held provisionally since August 2021, and has raised her status to senior vice-president. Latypova joined Sberbank in 2015 as vice-president and head of strategy and development. Since then the bank has approved three… Continue Reading
Russia’s Matrix Capital says its VC fund a prosperous business
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment boutique Matrix Capital has announced it set up a prosperous venture capital fund in 2021 in seeking an antidote to dwindling yields from bonds and other usual financial instruments. Matrix has about a dozen startups in the fund’s portfolio, some of them American, some European, some Israeli, and some from… Continue Reading
New inflation wave to hit Russia soon – head of Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia is most likely in for a surge in inflation this or next month, according to the head of Moscow-based investment banking boutique Matrix Capital. Pavel Teplukhin, general partner at Matrix, largely based his forecast on the role of inflationary psychology, an attitude that makes consumers buy more goods than usual in… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Reuters Events webinar on Jan 11 to help commodities firms meet COP26 targets without ceasing to be profitable
It remains unclear how the global commodities industry would be able to meet net zero targets set to it by COP26 and remain profitable at the same time, but a free Reuters Events webinar on January 11, “COP26 – Assessing the Repercussions for the Commodities Sector”, is purported to provide answers. You may register for… Continue Reading
Debex delinquent debts auction house establishes pan-Asia presence
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debex, a Moscow-based multinational company running online auctions for delinquent debts, sold a debt portfolio of about $70m in the Philippines in September in a prelude to the formal launch of the firm’s pan-Asia subsidiary, Debex.Asia, on November 24. Debex.Asia, which is headquartered in Manila, Philippines, and has an offfice in Ho… Continue Reading
VC firm Fort Ross announces interim closure of late-stage investment fund at $100m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Fort Ross Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital company, has announced an interim closure at $100m of a fund for the late-stage financing of startups. The Late-Stage Fund, whose declared target volume is $200m, is focused on investing in technology-enabled companies having a potential for an initial public offering (IPO) or a… Continue Reading
Russia’s Aton launches crypto market index & analysis report
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment company Aton announced on November 11 that it has launched a daily value index of five key cryptocurrencies and a weekly analytical cryptocurrency and blockchain report. The Aton Crypto Index (ATONCRPT), which is a joint product of Aton and S&P, covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano and Ripple, an Aton… Continue Reading
Russia’s Mercury retailer puts off IPO over ‘market conditions’
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, announced on November 9 that it had postponed a planned initial public offering due to “current market conditions”. Mercury did not say when the IPO would be held. The IPO, first announced on October 27, was to take place on Moscow Exchange and was expected to… Continue Reading
Russian retailer Mercury hopes to raise up to $1.3bn via IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, expects to raise between $1.2bn and $1.3bn via a planned initial public offering. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and Renaissance Capital are organising the float, to take place on Moscow Exchange and involve offering up to 200m global depositary receipts (GDRs) each of which… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Three conferences not to be missed this month
European CLO Summit 2021, London, November 8. An in-person educational conference on collateralised loan obligation issues for investors, issuers, underwriters, rating agencies, lawyers and accountants. It will take place at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. Extensive sanitary precautions are promised by the organisers, New York-headquartered Opal Group. Commodities Trading 2021, November 9-10. An online… Continue Reading
Rouble best-faring of EM currencies but Russian economy may hit the rocks ‘any moment’ – Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble has been the best-performing of emerging market currencies in 2021 and is likely to get stronger in the near term but Russia’s economy as a whole is an unpredictable state and may run into trouble “any moment”, according to Moscow’s asset management boutique Matrix Capital. Inflation is likely to… Continue Reading