By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has hired Steven Weller, a former Barclays, Lehman Brothers and Citi banker {{{*}}}, as head of foreign exchange trading at the largest Russian lender’s investment arm, Sberbank CIB. Weller, who joined Sberbank on March 22, is based in Moscow, Sberbank said in a statement. He has spent over two decades working… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Russia
TA Ventures and Paradigm Investments participate in $2.5M Series A Round for prepaid card retailer IQcard
Paradigm Investments and TA Ventures have participated in Series A funding for IQcard, {{{*}}}} a pre-paid card operator in Russia according to Invest-IQ. IQcard is a Russian startup that allows people to purchase pre-paid cards for monetary transactions without the need to open a bank account. Founded in 2012 through the efforts of Fastlane Ventures, Direct Group and CEO Ekaterina… Continue Reading
White Square Office Centre in Moscow has a new owner
A consortium between leading developer AIG/Lincoln, Russian investment bank VTB Capital and global private investment firm {{{*}}} TPG Holdings (sellers) and the investment company O1 Properties, one of the largest owners and managers of a portfolio of high quality office properties in Moscow (purchaser), announce the completion of an investment transaction involving White Square, a… Continue Reading
Markit says world business, mainly US and Chinese firms, upbeat about 2013
By Andrei Skvarsky. According to Markit, a global financial information services company, {{{*}}} the global business community is today much more upbeat about the year ahead than it was last October, with the United States and China showing the highest optimism. “Worldwide business confidence has revived from the post-crisis low seen late last year, with… Continue Reading
Abris closes latest CEE fund on €450m
Abris has exceeded expectations to reach hard-cap for its Abris Capital Fund II {{{*}}} – despite no exits since the GP was founded in 2007. Abris Capital Partners has reached its hard-cap of €450m for a final close on its second fund targeting the CEE mid-market. A total of 21 investors came into the fund,… Continue Reading
Sberbank to lend PGP developer $218m for Moscow project
Sberbank CIB, the investment arm {{{*}}} of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, plans to open a 10-year $218m credit line for the PGP developer to build a multi-functional shopping and entertainment centre in Moscow. The plan is sealed in a preliminary agreement signed during this week’s MIPIM international real estate show in Cannes, France, Sberbank CIB… Continue Reading
RenCap appoints researchers for consumer-related sectors
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has added the coverage of Russian consumer-related sectors {{{*}}} to the duties of its analysts David Ferguson and Nick Robinson, who until now have been covering media, information technology and real estate sectors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ferguson, who has been with RenCap for six years, has… Continue Reading
Sberbank launching residential real estate investment fund
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, is {{{*}}} launching a closed-end residential real estate mutual fund for non-qualified investors. The Sberbank Residential Real Estate fund, which would finance the construction of relatively inexpensive apartments in Moscow and its suburbs, is being set up by Sberbank Asset Management, a division that was part of Troika Dialog before the… Continue Reading
Sberbank lending $62m for two real estate projects in Krasnodar
Sberbank CIB, the investment arm {{{*}}} of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has pledged to provide a 10-year credit line of 1.9bn rubles ($62m) to Russian developer RAMO-M for two projects in Krasnodar in southern Russia. The loan deal was announced at this week’s MIPIM international real estate show in Cannes, France, where Sberbank CIB has sent… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BCS insists Moscow Exchange shares are good investment
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s CreditBrokerService (BCS) has become {{{*}}} the first broker to launch the research coverage of the stock of the Moscow Exchange, issuing a “buy” recommendation but pointing out that equity trading volumes in Russia for the fourth quarter of 2012 showed a year-on-year drop of 70%. BCS analyst Olga Naydenova suggests a… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BrokerCreditService hires ex-UBS banker as senior utilities analyst
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService (BCS) has hired Igor Goncharov, a former researcher {{{*}}} with Swiss bank UBS and Dutch lender ING, as senior utilities analyst. Goncharov took up his Moscow-based position at BCS on March 11, Luis Saenz, head of equity and derivatives sales and trading at the firm’s London office, told EmergingMarkets.me.… Continue Reading
Gazprombank names ex-Swiss banker as head of asset management
Gazprombank has appointed Aylin Suntay, a former Swiss banker who joined the Russian lender in September 2012, {{{*}}} as head of asset management. Suntay headed the small cap equities business at Geneva-based Pictet Asset Management for over a decade before leaving the firm a year ago. In her new position, she replaces Anatoly Miliukov, who… Continue Reading
Former Russian unit of Barclays hires investment banking chief
Moscow’s Expobank, the former Russian retail unit of British bank Barclays, has hired Nikita Riauzov, {{{*}}} an ex-top manager at Russian lender MDM, as head of corporate and investment banking. Riauzov spent nine and a half years at MDM, one of Russia’s largest private banks, first as head of corporate and investment business and then,… Continue Reading
RenCap hires IT chief from BrokerCreditService
Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank focusing on emerging markets, has hired {{{*}}} Vladimir Gibenko from Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService (BCS) as head of information technology. Gibenko took up his new job on March 1, RenCap said in a statement. He returned to Renaissance, where he held IT-related positions before taking charge of the IT service at BCS. Gibenko worked at Alfa-Bank… Continue Reading
Elbrus Capital buys OSG Records Management from Aurora Russia
Elbrus Capital, Russian equity firm recently bought OSG Records Management from Aurora Russia. {{{*}}} The target company was acquired through a secondary buyout that puts its value at between USD25 and 50 mln. It is intended that the transaction will close in early March 2013, with Aurora Russia exiting the company nearly seven years after… Continue Reading
East Capital upbeat about Russia’s domestically-, consumer-focused sectors
East Capital, an emerging markets-focused asset manager headquartered in Stockholm, argues {{{*}}} that domestically-oriented and consumer-related sectors offer the best investment opportunities in Russia. According to East Capital’s chief investment officer, Peter Elam Håkansson, today’s Russia is a country with a “strong economy”, one of the world’s strongest balance sheets, domestically-focused sectors experiencing double-digit growth, and a… Continue Reading
Otkritie puts deputy CEO Romaev in charge of Nomos
Russia’s Otkritie financial group has given an extra role to Dmitry Romaev, its deputy chief executive and chief {{{*}}} financial officer, by appointing him as chief executive officer of Nomos, a Moscow bank bought out by Otkritie in autumn 2012. As head of Nomos, Romaev succeeds Dmitry Sokolov, who was the lender’s chief executive since… Continue Reading
Home Credit receives bids totalling $300m for Russian bonds
Home Credit, one of Europe’s leading retail lenders, has pulled off a highly successful securities project in Russia, {{{*}}} with a total of 9.4bn rubles ($300m) offered for bonds issued by its Russian subsidiary – more than three times their total par value. Sberbank CIB, the investment banking arm of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, Raiffeisenbank… Continue Reading
RDIF, VEB, France’s CDC sign private equity promotion deal
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and VEB development bank and France’s Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC), {{{*}}} all of which are state institutions, have signed an agreement to boost private equity investment in the two countries. The deal – a memorandum of understanding – was signed in Moscow on February 28… Continue Reading
Clearstream link to Russian CSD goes live with custody fees halved
By Andrei Skvarsky. Clearstream, the clearing and settlement arm of German stock exchange Deutsche Boerse, has confirmed that its direct link to Russia’s new central securities depository {{{*}}} , the National Settlement Depository (NSD), is going live on February 28, and that it is cutting its custody fees for Russian OFZ sovereign bonds by up to… Continue Reading
Prostor Capital and Moscow Seed Fund invest in Car-Fin.ru project
Prostor Capital, the Russian VC fund, and Moscow Venture Investment Fund have invested {{{*}}} $400K in Car-Fin.ru project which is a service that allows you to compare different offers when choosing a car, to get credit and leasing online. Car-Fin team took part in the selection under the GTI Labs acceleration program, that is already supported by… Continue Reading
EU financial intel body takes up Magnitsky affair
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Commission has launched an investigation into the laundering of money stolen from Russian tax authorities in an alleged monumental scam uncovered {{{?}}} by Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer for British investment fund Hermitage Capital who died in a Moscow jail in 2009. The commission asked for such a probe at a… Continue Reading
Wermuth’s pro-environment fund pulls off second deal in short while
By Andrei Skvarsky. Wermuth Asset Management, a German firm with most of its business interests in Russia, has reported a second transaction by its sustainable energy-focused Green Gateway Fund, with the previous deal announced just three days ago. {{{*}}} Green Gateway Fund, whose legal name is Europe-Tatarstan Cleantech Fund, led a group of investors that put… Continue Reading
Russia’s Aton hires ex-UBS banker to run new brokerage arm
Russia’s Aton investment group has hired Alexei Sizov, a former UBS, JP Morgan and Renaissance Capital banker, as head of institutional business at its new brokerage Aton Capital. {{{*}}} Sizov will oversee the equity, fixed income, treasury, direct market access and research units and the brokerage’s office in London, the Moscow-based group said in a… Continue Reading
Wermuth reports deal, two senior appointments
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Green Gateway Fund, a 110m-euro investment fund run by Germany’s Wermuth Asset Management, has acquired a minority stake in The Mobility House (TMH), a Germany-based provider of charging equipment for electric vehicles. {{{*}}} Wermuth’s statement that reported the deal did not disclose the size of the stake. Wermuth, a firm with… Continue Reading
Head of Product Development / Marketing – Banking Group – Moscow
{{{?}}} One of the largest banking groups in Russia is looking for Head of Product Development / Marketing for it’s Moscow office. The successful candidate must have: – relevant experience working in a senior role in product development / marketing within financial services industry; – strong management experience – ideally with knowledge of Russian & CIS markets as well… Continue Reading
HSBC drawn into Magnitsky affair as Russian police demand info
By Andrei Skvarsky. HSBC has found itself drawn into the Magnitsky affair as Russian police are pressing its Moscow subsidiary to cough up information relating to Hermitage Capital and threatening to use force if the British bank’s Russian arm refuses to cooperate, Hermitage said. {{{*}}} Russia’s Interior Ministry wants HSBC’s Russian unit to provide wide-ranging… Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange IPO kicks off with $500m worth of stock floated
The Moscow Exchange is launching its initial public offering today, putting 15bn rubles’ (497.5m dollars’) worth of stock on sale on its own platform and having set the per-share price at 55 rubles ($1.83). {{{*}}} A statement from the exchange values the bourse at 126.9bn rubles ($4.2bn). VTB Capital, as stabilising manager of the IPO,… Continue Reading
SBERBANK COMMENT: Economic update – sluggish performance
By analysts, Sberbank Investment Research. Growth slowed at end 2012 not just in Russia but also in neighboring Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. In contrast to Russia, where slowing economic growth has been accompanied by softening consumption growth, the Kazakh, Belarusian and Ukrainian consumer markets remain overheated. {{{*}}} We see serious risk of economic contraction in… Continue Reading