By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment consultancy Moorgate Capital advised on a 160m-pound ($243m) buyout in the European {{{*}}} packaging products industry, Nicholas Mockett of the London-based advisory firm told EmergingMarkets.me. The transaction involved the sale of Contego Healthcare, a European manufacturer of cartons, leaflets, labels and foils for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, to Filtrona, a supplier of… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Europe
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
GOLDMAN SACHS COMMENT: From the weekly Viewpoints of Jim O'Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management
European Glory. So yet another year of European dreams comes {{{*}}} to an end for United, and this time in such harsh circumstances. Last Tuesday in Manchester had it all. As I wrote at the time of the draw for the last 16 in the Champions League, for me, it brought back memories as a… 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
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
EBRD intervenes to salvage Lithuania’s Ukio bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending 20m euros in co-funding an urgent effort to rescue Lithuania’s troubled Ukio bank, whose woes are seen as a threat to the Baltic country’s entire financial sector. {{{*}}} Under an agreement between Ukio’s administrator, the lender, headquartered in Lithuania’s second-largest city of Kaunas,… 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
FTI Consulting: global business “surprisingly” upbeat about world banking
By Andrei Skvarsky. FTI Consulting, a global business advisory firm, has said it has carried out a poll that suggests the world business community is “surprisingly” optimistic about the global banking industry. {{{*}}} Of more than 1,000 business leaders in major global economies who were questioned in the survey, 89% believed their home country’s banking… 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
EBRD to have permanent office in Jordan
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to have a permanent office in Amman under a recent agreement with the Jordanian government. {{{*}}} The EBRD said in a statement that it had appointed Heike Harmgart, one of its senior economists, as head of the office. The EBRD, which began investing in… 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
EU legislators press Ashton over Magnitsky affair
By Andrei Skvarsky. One of the European Parliament’s political groups has pressed the European Commission to go ahead with sanctions against alleged Russian persecutors and killers of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky that the EU legislature recommended in October and December. {{{*}}} In an address to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the Alliance of… Continue Reading
Moldova seventh country to join in probes set off by Magnitsky accusations
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moldova has become the seventh country to try to track down the $230m stolen from the Russian state by senior Russian officials in an alleged tax scam uncovered by Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. {{{*}}} Hermitage claims it has obtained documents indicating that in 2008 a $53m chunk of the money was… Continue Reading
Sberbank says Russia’s economic growth driven by consumer sectors
{{{?}}} By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has released an extensive body of research arguing that Russia’s economic growth is driven by consumer-related sectors and not by oil and gas, and that those sectors offer vast opportunities to investors. While extractive industries account for two-thirds of Russia’s stock market, and oil and gas dominate the country’s exports,… Continue Reading
Sberbank bankers moving to Swiss firm to look after Russian HNWIs
{{{?}}} Sberbank is parting company with equity trader Rufat Askerov and equity salesperson Alexei Dolgikh, who have been hired by Swiss private banking group Julius Baer to work with Russian high net worth individuals. Askerov, Dolgikh and former Alfa-Bank executive Alexander Muratov, who has been running his own business in London since 2008, will be… Continue Reading
Swiss PE firm to invest €100 mln in Russian e-commerce
{{{?:0}}} Pluribus Optimum, a Swiss PE firm, has earmarked EUR 100 mln for investments in Russia and CIS countries over the next three years. The funds will target e-commerce platforms to improve certain operational aspects such as order processing, document handling, billing and payment acceptance. They will also be targeting the third-party logistics market, popularly… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: BrokerCreditService makes two high-tier hires
{{{?:0}}} By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage BrokerCreditService (BCS) has made two senior hires for its London office, bringing in John Barker from global electronic broker Liquidnet as non-executive director and Audrey Faveeuw from the London Stock Exchange as director of international prime brokerage sales. Barker oversaw Liquidnet’s pan-European business during his 11 years at Liquidnet,… Continue Reading
East Capital exits ELKO computer wholesaler as sales go up
{{{?:0}}} East Capital, a private equity and venture capital firm with 3.8bn euros under management, has sold out of after helping the Riga-headquartered computer wholesaler to stabilise and boost its business. East Capital has made a profit of 36% on its 8.8% interest in ELKO since it acquired the stake in 2005, according to a… Continue Reading
Sberbank makes 26m-euro unsecured loan to engineering firm
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has extended a seven-year unsecured loan of 26m euros to HMS Group, a Moscow-based manufacturer of pumps, compressors and oil and gas equipment. The fixed-rate loan, which comes with a three-year grace period, has been structured by Sberbank-CIB, a division that was part of Troika Dialog before the Moscow brokerage was… Continue Reading
BAML hires RenCap ex-boss to run Russian business
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Alexander Pertsovsky, a former chief executive of Renaissance Capital, to head its Russian operation. Pertsovsky, who takes up the reins at BAML in February, will also join the American bank’s executive committee for Europe and the emerging markets, excluding Asia, according to Reuters. BAML, which has not yet… Continue Reading
SBERBANK COMMENT FROM CHRIS WEAFER: Russia in context – an expected journey
By Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist, Sberbank Investment Research. It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit US budget worries have balanced out macro optimism. Markets have been in something of a zero-sum game in recent weeks as the lingering concern over… Continue Reading
Sberbank hires Credit Suisse banker to look after UHNWIs
Sberbank has announced it has hired Vasiliy Sofiyskiy from Credit Suisse to head the ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) unit in the newly set-up private banking arm of Russia’s biggest lender. Sofiysky’s arrival at Sberbank Private Banking and other recent senior hires by Sberbank are part of a major buildout of business launched by the lender in 2011… Continue Reading
Sberbank hires manager from UBS to help get private banking off the ground
Sberbank Private Banking, a newly set-up division of Russia’s Sberbank, has given a senior managerial role to Anna Tokaeva from Swiss bank UBS, where she has held top positions in wealth and asset management. Tokaeva spent 12 years with UBS, being posted in Chicago and Moscow, before coming over to help develop what is a new… Continue Reading
GOLDMAN SACHS COMMENT: Our weird but beautiful world
By Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. My week kicked off with a tough Monday start following the Rolling Stones concert Sunday night, but what a boost it gave me. Keith, Mick and the boys rocked on for two and a half hours. It really is quite an inspiration that such serious and serial… Continue Reading
Ukraine agribusiness co-owned by RenCap hires CFO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Ukrainian Agrarian Investments (UAI), a major Ukrainian farming business co-founded and co-owned by Russia’s Renaissance Capital, has hired Alexandre Joseph from French agricultural company AgroGeneration as chief financial officer. A statement from RenCap, which is currently selling out to billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group. credits Joseph, who will be based in Kyiv, with… Continue Reading
European Parliament urges visa ban, asset freeze for Magnitsky’s alleged killers
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Parliament on Tuesday passed a non-binding resolution calling for tough European Union-wide sanctions against Russian officials blamed for the allegedly unlawful arrest of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for British investment fund Hermitage Capital, and his death in custody in 2009. The resolution recommends that the EU Council, effectively the Union’s top… Continue Reading
Sberbank, Gazprombank, ING, UniCredit extend syndicated loan to Ukraine firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Sberbank CIB and Gazprombank, the Netherlands’ ING Bank and Italy’s UniCredit have provided a syndicated credit line to a total of 416m for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy company. Sberbank is represented in the deal by Sberbank CIB, a former division of Troika Dialog that has become a corporate and investment unit of… Continue Reading
Geneva’s Lombard Odier says eurozone breakup inevitable
By Andrei Skvarsky. Geneva-based Lombard Odier, one of Europe’s largest private banking firms, predicts that the euro will survive as a currency, albeit significantly restructured, but that the eurozone will inevitably part company with some of its constituent countries. The currency needs restructuring if it is to survive, according to Paul Marson, a top Lombard… Continue Reading