http://www.straightstocks.com Leading Stock Market News, Opinions and Commentary Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:53:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-may-12-2009/ http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-may-12-2009/#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 08:14:00 +0000 Robert Amsterdam tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2009://1.18663 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-may-12-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-europe/russia-heading-towards-the-abyss/ http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-europe/russia-heading-towards-the-abyss/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:07:00 +0000 Manuel Alvarez-Rivera tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443720106009957151.post-1690349098087008883 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-europe/russia-heading-towards-the-abyss/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/the-ruble-fall-continues-as-unemployment-soars/ http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/the-ruble-fall-continues-as-unemployment-soars/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:32:00 +0000 Edward Hugh tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303901362201842397.post-6605010995265322812 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/the-ruble-fall-continues-as-unemployment-soars/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/global-economics/russias-economic-and-financial-meltdown-continues-apace-2/ http://www.straightstocks.com/global-economics/russias-economic-and-financial-meltdown-continues-apace-2/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:06:00 +0000 Edward Hugh tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991369883287712098.post-3445748553751634643 http://www.straightstocks.com/global-economics/russias-economic-and-financial-meltdown-continues-apace-2/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/moscows-bourses-closed-again-on-monday/ http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/moscows-bourses-closed-again-on-monday/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:40:00 +0000 Edward Hugh tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303901362201842397.post-7271405133766153912
Russian global depositary receipts plunged in London trading following the decision, led by steelmakers. The FTSE Russia IOB Index, a measure of Russian depositary receipts trading in London, sank 11 percent to 312.83 at 9:36 a.m. in London, the lowest in almost five years. OAO Severstal, Russia's biggest steelmaker, fell 23 percent to $2.50. Evraz Group SA, the second-largest steelmaker, dropped 15 percent to $10.60, or 92 percent below its May 16 high.

The Ruble Slides


The ruble fell to an 18-month low against the dollar this morning even while it strengthened for a second straight day versus an ever weaker euro.

The currency, which policy makers manage against a dollar- euro basket in an attempt to protect the competitiveness of exporters, fell as much as 0.6 percent to 27.3738 per dollar, the weakest since April 2006. It was at 27.3624 by 11:01 a.m. in Moscow, from 27.1991 late on Oct. 24. The ruble jumped 0.9 percent to 34.0292 per euro, the strongest in almost two years.

Bank Rossii, Russia's central bank, buys and sells foreign currency reserves to keep the ruble within a trading band against the basket. The basket rate is calculated by multiplying the ruble's rate to the dollar by 0.55, the euro rate by 0.45, then adding them together. Russia's currency was little changed at 30.3757 against the basket, from 30.4096 at the end of last week, when it strengthened just 0.1 percent. The 30.40 level is regarded by most analysts as the weakest end of the central bank's trading band. Bank Rossii sold almost $11 billion supporting the ruble against the basket last week, according to estimates by Moscow's MDM Bank.

Crude oil, Russia's biggest export earner, fell for a second day, extending its decline from a July 11 record of $142.27 to 57 percent. Urals crude, the nation's main export blend, slid 10 percent last week to $59.93, below the $70 average.]]> http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/moscows-bourses-closed-again-on-monday/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/oligarchs-make-the-most-of-russian-ma-activity/ http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/oligarchs-make-the-most-of-russian-ma-activity/#comments Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Jason Corcoran tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7619541933410184333.post-4671242546987171118 Financial News

Jason Corcoran in Moscow 13 October 2008

Many holdings are up for sale

Oligarchs on opposing sides of the cash crisis are set to trigger a boom in merger and acquisition activity in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Cash-tight tycoons are being forced to sell holdings to meet pending margin calls while their rouble-wealthy counterparts are sizing up distressed assets affected by the liquidity crunch.

Oligarch Oleg Deripaska had to sell a stake in Canadian auto parts maker Magna to meet a $1bn (€734m) margin call while Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantin Zhevago was forced to sell a large stake in Swiss-based ore miner Ferrexpo worth $180 in order to meet a margin call by JP Morgan.

Analysts are predicting Deripaska, who has $28bn, may have to divest further holdings in his Basic Element investment vehicle to shore up his finances.

Marat Gabitov, a Moscow analyst at UniCredit, said: “We see the news as further confirmation that the global financial crisis may be worse than we previously deemed. We also see risks for other public names in which Deripaska controls significant minority stakes – Strabag, Hochtief and GM, of which we know that Strabag was financed with a bank loan.”

Oligarchs with limited equity exposure are looking to pounce on distressed assets in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Rinat Akhmetov, the wealthiest man in Europe and Russia with an estimated fortune of $31.1bn, is putting together a war chest to fund an acquisition programme of coal assets worth between $50m and $500m in Russia, Ukraine and other parts of eastern Europe.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov, chief financial officer of Akhmetov’s main Ukraine-based energy holding company DTEK told Financial News: “We are now looking outside Ukraine, having focussed ourselves domestically until recently.

Now, we are looking at the resource base in Russia, especially regions close to Ukraine due to logistical reasons. We are also looking outside Ukraine westwards for new customers and new generations in Romania, Hungary and Poland. The assets there can have a synergy with existing assets in Ukraine.”

Ryzhenkov said DTEK would like to buy assets cheaply and then turn them round. He said: “We have some core abilities to turn distressed assets round and it is our experience in Ukraine and especially in coalmining to work on geologically difficult assets.”

Stephen Jennings, chief executive of Renaissance Capital, is forecasting an M&A boom for his brokerage as Russian and CIS businessmen are forced to sell to those with liquidity.

He said: “Consolidation in finance, for instance among banks, brokers and asset managers, will be extraordinary.”

Jennings last month sold half his business to oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim investment fund for $500m, even though Renaissance had been valued by bankers at $3bn to $4bn a year ago when VTB Bank made its approach.

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Dutch bank Fortis had appealed directly to billionaire Suleiman Kerimov’s Millennium Fund during the summer for a €400m ($546m) cash injection in the context of a share issue.

Swiss-based Millennium Fund already owns about 2% of Fortis shares along with stakes in US investment bank Morgan Stanley, Swiss bank Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank of Germany, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Analysts are predicting Kerimov might return his attention to Russia having sold down his stakes in blue chips before the downturn. Oligarchs exposed to Russia’s property and construction sectors are already offloading assets and freezing developments as the country’s real estate bubble shows signs of bursting.

Ratings agency Fitch said reports that Sistema-Hals is likely to sell almost a quarter of its projects to raise up to $500m of cash and that developer Mirax is likely to undertake something similar highlight a deterioration in the funding environment for developers.

Sistema-Hals is the listed property arm of conglomerate Sistema, headed by oligarch Vladimir Evtushenkov, while Mirax is owned by billionaire Sergei Polonsky.

Mirax, Sistema-Hals and Inteko headed by Russia’s wealthiest woman Yelena Baturina have already announced project freezes over the next year, according to reports in the Russian press.

Liquidity problems have extended to Russia’s consumer sector.

Yevgeny Chichvarkin, chairman of Russia’ largest mobile phone retailer Euroset, said he had sold his company for “a few kopeks” to billionaire Alexander Mamut after being unable to find a bank to refinance its debt.

Mamut’s investment company ANN may have used some of those proceeds from his sale of a 38% stake in insurer Ingosstrakh to Czech investment firm PPF for €600m to acquire 100% of Euroset for $400m.

State banks such as VTB are also planning to capitalise on assets trading at distressed levels then resell them later for a profit. VTB chief executive Andrei Kostin told a Reuters summit in September that the bank is accumulating a “cash fist” to potentially buy stakes in businesses.

Russian banking, consumer and real estate sectors were mentioned, as well as banking assets abroad. Some oligarchs and billionaires had the prescience or good fortune to offload large stakes in Russian blue chips before the market slide, which has wiped 60% of the value of the domestic equity markets since late July. Tycoons were encourage to buy into “People’s IPOs” by the Kremlin in the past couple of years, including Rosneft, Sberbank and VTB.

One Moscow trader said: “Some oligarchs sold out after a year of these major listings. They locked in some profit and got out but others have been hurt.”

Baturina almost halved her stake in state savings bank Sberbank from 0.68% to 0.38% after the shares lost half their value during the second quarter this year.

Baturina, who has an estimated fortune of $4bn, initially bought into Sberbank last year following the bank’s IPO.

Her equity fund Kontinental’s proceeds from securities sold in the second quarter came to 5.4bn roubles (€151m), according to the fund’s financial statement.

Kerimov, who owns Nafta Moskva oil refinery, is reported in the Russian press to have sold down his 6% stake in Sberbank and 4.5% stake in energy group Gazprom.

Kerimov has also sold stakes in silver producer Polymetal for around $2bn, in a construction project for $3.5bn and in NTK cable TV operator for another $1.5bn.

Filaret Galchev, owner of Russia’s largest cement producer Eurocement, has cut his stake in Sberbank to 1.85% from 3%. Galchev has since acquired a 6% stake in Swiss cement group Holcim.

Recruiters are reporting a growing trend by oligarchs to hire seasoned fund managers and bankers from investment firms and banks as they increased their private equity-style investment funds.

Millhouse, the investment vehicle of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, hired the general director of MDM Bank’s MDM Asset Management in July to run its portfolio of investments while Prokorov’s main strategist and head of Onexim is Dmitry Razumov, a former banker at Renaissance Capital.]]> http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/oligarchs-make-the-most-of-russian-ma-activity/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-oct-14-2008/ http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-oct-14-2008/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:03:11 +0000 Robert Amsterdam http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2008/10/today_in_russian_business_oct_9.htm secretive anti-crisis task force’, wonders the Moscow Times? An equities trader at Russia’s Renaissance Capital lost the company an estimated $10 million by placing unauthorized bets just as the stock market collapsed. Vladimir Putin’s comments yesterday about the failure of government measures to prevent the financial crisis from affecting Russia’s real sector have been picked up by opposition party The Other Russia, which also reports on the estimated 37 billion rubles that Russian consumers have withdrawn from their banks due to uncertainty about the security of their savings. Medvedev, meanwhile, has increased the value of bank deposits that the government will insure. Vladimir Potanin has sold $600 million worth of assets to Norilsk Nickel. Is it a blow to add to the collective woes of Russia’s oligarchs, or a shrewd business move? Norilsk's board member Mikhail Prokhorov, currently thought to be feuding with Potanin, warned that the company could go bankrupt if it proceeded with a planned share buyback. Alisher Usmanov has insisted he will not sell his stake in football club Arsenal because he is ‘in love’ with it. VTB shows it is feeling the effects of the crisis, applying for government money. In the period leading up to the crisis, MDM Bank reported a three-fold net profit rise. ]]> http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-oct-14-2008/feed/ 0