By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based brokerage Sova Capital and U.S. boutique investment bank EarlyBirdCapital have acted as joint book runners for a successful initial public offering (IPO) aimed at funding an energy transition project for emerging and frontier markets. Oxus Acquisition Corp., a Kazakh special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), raised $150m through its IPO on the… Continue Reading
World Bank appoints David Knight lead economist for Russia
The World Bank has appointed David Knight, earlier a senior economist for the international bank and an adviser in the British and Sierra Leonean governments, as the lead economist for Russia with effect from September 1, 2021. Before his current appointment, Knight, who will be based in Moscow, was the World Bank’s senior economist for… Continue Reading
Luxembourg one of world’s main 2020 FDI recipients – MoneyTransfers.com
By Andrei Skvarsky. Though foreign direct investment was generally in decline worldwide in 2020 because of Covid-19, some countries still received more of it than they had in 2019, and they included tiny Luxembourg, which attracted an equivalent of one-third of FDI attracted by China. Luxembourg received $62bn as FDI last year. This was 319… Continue Reading
RenCap hires Boris Sinitsyn as global metals and mining analyst
Emerging and frontier markets investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Boris Sinitsyn from VTB Capital as analyst for metals and mining to cover the firm’s M&M business in all its markets. Sinitsyn will be based in Moscow and report to Daniel Salter, global head of equity strategy and head of research for Eurasia, RenCap said… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Austin, Texas, to host three conferences in September organised by Opal Group
The Opal Group event organiser has three financial conferences in the United States scheduled for late next month, all of which would be in-person rather than virtual events and take place in Austin, Texas, with Opal promising maximum sanitary precautions. Emerging Managers Summit, September 27-28. The summit is expected to bring together new managers of… Continue Reading
Uzbek govt to relinquish control of JV with Coca-Cola in privatisation deal
The Uzbek government has pledged to sell its controlling stake in Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan, Ltd, a joint venture with Coca-Cola, as part of a current sweeping privatisation programme in the Central Asian country. Turkey’s Coca-Cola İçecek (CCI) A.Ş., one of the key bottlers in Coca-Cola’s global system, is to pay $252.28m for the 57.12 per… Continue Reading
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley less attractive to job seekers than would seem logical – MoneyTransfers.com study
By Andrei Skvarsky. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, KPMG, PwC and EY arouse a lot less interest among job seekers worldwide than one would have expected what with their prestige and lavish salaries, a study by the MoneyTransfers.com company suggests. Online reviews of Amazon by current and former employees of the e-commerce giant are looked up… Continue Reading
Russian industry back to pre-Covid output levels – Matrix Capital chief
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s industry returned to its pre-pandemic output levels in the second quarter of 2021 and the country’s economy as a whole is likely to do so by the end of the year, according to the head of Russian investment boutique Matrix Capital. Russian industry’s resumption of pre-Covid production levels is shown by… Continue Reading
Russian financier upbeat about Kazakhstan’s ‘undervalued’ Halyk Bank, about Kazakh economy
By Andrei Skvarsky. Kazakhstan’s biggest lender, Halyk Bank, is “fundamentally undervalued”, a distinguished Russian financier has said, citing upbeat statistics released by the Kazakh institution. For the first quarter of 2021, Halyk reported a year-on-year net profit that was 5 per cent up on the first three months of 2020 and higher than consensus forecasts.… Continue Reading
Rouble volatility in Q2 mainly caused by OPEC+ output deal delay – Matrix
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble’s unusual volatility in the second quarter of 2021 was chiefly caused by uncertainties over the then inability of the OPEC cartel and other key oil producing nations to agree output volumes because of a dispute that was only settled by July 18, according to Russian investment firm Matrix Capital.… Continue Reading
United Medical Group sets tentative date, indicative price for Moscow IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. United Medical Group CY PLC, owner of a clinic chain in the city and region of Moscow known as the European Medical Center (EMC), has set a tentative start date for a planned initial public offering (IPO) – July 15 – and an indicative price range for the sale. The IPO would… Continue Reading
Uzbekistan’s Grand Leather Shoes pulls off buyout overseen by Bluestone bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Uzbek shoe manufacturer Grand Leather Shoes has bought out a dysfunctional electrical heating equipment producer as part of Uzbekistan’s current sweeping privatisation programme, with Central Asia-focused Bluestone Investment Bank leading the shoe company through the $1.9m acquisition. Grand Leather Shoes, whose name in Uzbek is Grand Charm Poyafzallari, acquired a stake of 61.9… Continue Reading
Moscow’s European Medical Center planning IPO to be managed by Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, J.P. Morgan, VTB Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Medical Center, a private clinic in Moscow, has announced that it plans an initial public offering (IPO) with Citigroup Global Markets Ltd, J.P. Morgan and VTB Capital acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. The European Medical Center (EMC) is the brand used for the clinic by its owner,… Continue Reading
Belgium has Europe’s best job opportunities for LGBT+ people – Reboot
By Andrei Skvarsky. Belgium is the European country with the best employment and career opportunities for LGBT+ people while the labour markets of Cyprus and Lithuania have some of Europe’s scantiest offers to make to members of sexual and gender minorities, a study by digital PR company Reboot suggests. Luxembourg is the second- and Denmark… Continue Reading
Ether arouses more interest in U.S. than anywhere else – Invezz
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Ether cryptocurrency arouses much more interest in the United States than anywhere else in the world, a study by investment intelligence company Invezz suggests. There are 11 European countries in Invezz’s ranking of the world’s 20 nations showing the greatest interest in ether and sifted from 155 countries covered by the… Continue Reading
Cotrugli Business School starts issuing blockchain-stored diplomas to graduates
By Andrei Skvarsky. Zagreb- and Belgrade-based Cotrugli Business School has begun to issue blockchain-stored digital diplomas to its graduates. The diplomas are both in print form with a QR code and in digital form. The digital versions are stored on a HashNET platform, Cotrugli said in a statement. HashNET is a blockchain technology with a… Continue Reading
Sberbank: assets held abroad not easy to get in Russian bankruptcy cases
By Andrei Skvarsky. Receivers and creditors in Russia often come up against legal and other hurdles in trying to seize assets that insolvent debtors have abroad, according to a senior manager at Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank. About 5 per cent of Russia’s businesspeople own money or property abroad, mainly in the United States, France and… Continue Reading
Geological unit of Russia’s Rosneft can monitor drilling of over 250 wells a day in real time
By Andrei Skvarsky. The real-time online geological monitoring unit of Russian state oil company Rosneft was involved in drilling more than 3,000 wells in 2020, according to the firm, which said this made the division the world leader among facilities of this kind. With a team of about 80, the Moscow-based Geological Drilling Support Centre,… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Polish VC firm Inovo launches 2nd fund, worth 54m euros
By Andrei Skvarsky. Inovo Venture Partners, a Polish venture capital (VC) firm focused on technology startups in Central and Eastern Europe, has closed a second fund, one worth 54m euros, after its first fund generated a 320 per cent return on investments in 15 companies, leading two of them to successful initial public offerings (IPOs).… Continue Reading
ActivTrades brokerage reports record profit, turnover for 2020
Online brokerage ActivTrades has reported a profit and turnover for 2020 that it says are the highest annual volumes since the company was set up 20 years ago. The London-based brokerage, which provides services in more than 140 countries in 14 languages, offering more than 1,000 contract-for-differences (CFD) or spread-betting instruments, registered a pretax profit of… Continue Reading
GUEST POST: How to invest in the booming SPAC space
By Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer of Defiance ETFs, a New York-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) sponsor and investment advisory.* Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are formed to take other companies public, and in 2021 they overtook the traditional initial public offering (IPO) route as the numerically more popular way for growing businesses to become publicly… Continue Reading
Alessandra Galloni appointed Reuters editor-in-chief as Steve Adler is going
Alessandra Galloni has been appointed editor-in-chief of Reuters to replace Steve Adler, who retires at the end of April, Reuters president Michael Friedenberg said in a statement. Galloni, previously global managing editor at Reuters, will oversee 2,500 journalists in 200 locations around the world. Before joining Reuters in 2013 as editor of the Southern Europe… Continue Reading
EM communications firm & investment consultancy hires Anna Vasilenko as CEO, appoints Tom Blackwell chairman
Anna Vasilenko, an ex-head of primary markets at the Moscow Exchange, has been hired as chief executive officer of emerging markets communications firm and investment consultancy EM to replace Tom Blackwell, who is moving to the newly created role as chairman of the EM management board. Before joining the Moscow Exchange, Vasilenko had worked at… Continue Reading
Russian unit of Oney banking group to go over from Sovcombank to Ozon retailer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Oney Bank LLC, the Russian unit of global banking group Oney, is changing hands as Sovcombank, one of Russia’s largest private lenders, has signed a deal to sell it to Russian online retailer Ozon. Ozon is buying 100 per cent of Oney, according to a statement from the retailer, which held an… Continue Reading
Russia’s Segezha timber products maker to hold IPO
Russian timber products manufacturer Segezha, a subsidiary of Russian conglomerate Sistema, has announced a plan to hold an initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares. The IPO would be held on the Moscow Exchange. Segezha expects to raise at least 30bn roubles ($396m at the April 14 exchange rate) via a primary offering of newly… Continue Reading
KPMG, Deloitte, Grant Thornton to advise Uzbekistan on privatisation of 18 firms
Global accounting and advisory firms KPMG, Deloitte and Grant Thornton have been hired to advise the Uzbekistan government on the planned privatisation of 18 companies, including an insurer, oil refinery, electricity transmission line builder, and 10 wine and spirits producers. State investment company UzAssets said this week that 86 bids had come in from 17… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank offers a bunch of services as $5 monthly subscription package
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has launched a scheme for retail clients that, for a monthly subscription fee of 399 roubles ($5), offers a diversity of financial and non-financial services, including a free debit card and discounts on food delivery, taxi journeys, and restaurant bills. The SberPrime+ scheme involves the acquisition of a… Continue Reading
Buildings in Tashkent, mountain resorts on sale under Uzbekistan privatisation project
Uzbekistan’s government plans to sell several properties, including three mountain resorts, under a real estate privatisation project announced last week. Five properties with a total floor space of 85,490 square metres (920,000 square feet) are going on sale in capital city Tashkent. They are a business centre, hotel, indoor houseware market, newspaper printing office and… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Inflation concerns a key world stock market factor
An analyst at London-based financial broker ActivTrades has argued that mixed developments in global stock markets this week are “broadly a reflection of lingering inflation concerns”. Investors expect an early rise in inflation in the United States because of the current successful vaccine rollouts there, technical analyst Pierre Veyret said in a statement. On the… Continue Reading