Nigerian Bank PHB acquired Spring Bank following the fulfillment of all the conditions of its offer. The N21 billion bid was on the bac of its initial stake of 33 percent in Spring Bank which. br /br /The takeover and the injection of management into Spring Bank plc, should arrest the latters decline. Bank PHB has delivered a far better return to shareholders in the last three years. br /br /Renaissance Capital writes that Bank PHB’s acquisition of Spring Bank is not only a good deal for Bank PHB and Spring Bank’s shareholders but also for customers, regulators, and employees. The new bank will have an expanded distribution network and extended product offerings

Dow Jones Newswires and Financial News br /br /Jason Corcoran in Moscowbr /08 December 2008 br /br /br /Deutsche Bank is cutting 30% of staff from its global markets division in Moscow where it has been the biggest and most successful bulge bracket bank during Russia's capital markets boom.br /br /Up to 30% of its Moscow-based global markets staff are expected to lose their jobs, double the proportion of employees being cut across Deutsche Bank's global markets business as part of a worldwide redundancy programme.br /br /Bankers working in sales, trading and research in Moscow were made redundant last week with more layoffs expected this week, according to two sources inside the bank.br /br /One said: "We have been told 30% has been earmarked across the board." The second said: "Ten of the research guys have gone."br /br /A Deutsche Bank spokesman in Moscow said the job losses represented 2% ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow and Harry Wilson17 Nov 2008 Moscow-based investment bankers are at the sharp end of job cutsRussian index slumpsIt seems like a different age, but it was only recently that Moscow-based investment bankers had firms fighting to secure their services and could command pay packages commensurate with demand.Senior Moscow-based bankers and those covering the Russian markets asked for and got lucrative pay deals as local brokers and large international investment banks fought a hiring war to build their businesses in the country.Guaranteed packages in excess of $10m (€7.8m) were not unheard of and even junior staff with experience of the Russian markets received $1m guarantees to join rivals.In early 2007, Russian investment bank Alfa-Bank recruited the head of UBS’ Moscow office Ed Kaufman for a ...

Financial News Jason Corcoran in Moscow10 November 2008 A merger of Micex and RTS is more likely following the exodus of €108bn in foreign capital since AugustRybnikov: suspensions must stop Moves to merge Moscow’s two stock exchanges, modernise market architecture and improve long-term liquidity have been given impetus following Russia’s worst trading collapse since the sovereign default in 1998. The frequent closures of Moscow’s two main trading platforms have led many investors to switch to trading Russian Global Depositary Receipts and Russian American Depositary Receipts in London and New York.Some 23 suspensions of trading on the rouble-denominated Micex since early September have contributed to a two-thirds slide in the volume of trading and an exodus of investors.Micex chief executive Alexei Rybnikov hopes the suspensions will become a ...

TODAY: How will US president-elect Barack Obama change relations with Russia? Medvedev delivers state-of-the-nation address, strongly criticizing US; Poland and Lithuania stalling Russia-EU partnership talks; nationalist rally sees 500 protesters detained. US President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a number of international problems - his first decision on dealing with Russia should be one of ‘tone, not actions’. But a deputy Russian foreign minister has expressed optimism on Obama’s election and its potential effects on relations with Russia. Investment bank Renaissance Capital sees Russia becoming ‘less assertive’ internationally as a result of the new leadership. And the Kremlin’s youth group, Nashi, held an anti-US protest at the American embassy in Moscow over the weekend. President Dmitry Medvedev has given his first state-of-the-nation address today, blaming the United States’ ‘conceited’ foreign policy for the ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow28 October 2008 Russian state bank VTB is defying the global downturn and dismal domestic markets by opening new sales and representative offices for its investment banking arm in New York and Dubai.Yulia Chupina, the VTB board member responsible for the expansion of its investment banking subsidiary, said the bank would open offices shortly in the US and Dubai.She said: "We are being cost conscious by freezing hiring and development in some areas while continuing to develop in other areas."VTB has already established three investment banking hubs in Moscow, London, and Singapore. It has dominated this year's hiring war in Russia by recruiting bankers from Deutsche Bank and key figures from a number of banks in Moscow.In response to the crisis, the bank said it was considering cutting costs by between 15% and ...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelona"The Kazakh government is ready to step in,'' Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Karim Masimov said this morning in a telephone interview with Bloomberg "The Kazakh banking system with the support of the government and central bank will fulfill all obligations to international investors.....We have our own specific plan to survive without any external support....I don't think we need support from the International Monetary Fund or overseas.'' Well that is good news, so at least we know that one of the CIS and CEE economies won't be looking to the IMF for bail-out support in this crisis which is presently growing by the day. So Kazakstan, that country which is reputedly host to reserves of approximately 95% of the elements in the periodic table, with a population of around 15 million housed on a surface area greater than the whole of Western Europe, is going to be able to look after itself. But hang on a minute, just where is Kazakhstan, and just what have they been getting up to over there, and why the hell should I take Karim Masimov's word for it, when just about all the other Iceland Look-alike show contestants seem to be saying the same? After all, didn't those extermely bright and able young people over at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto say in a report only last week that, along with Latvia, the country's $100 billion oil-led economy is among the most vulnerable to the present global credit crisis and the skid-row economic trajectories that go with it simply because of its excessive reliance on short-term foreign borrowing. And isn't it the case that the cost of protecting Kazakhstan government debt against default has more than doubled this month - to over 1,000 basis points (or 10%), the level for borrowers that investors term ``distressed,'' according to CMA Datavision credit-default swap prices. Only Ukraine, which as we know is already seeking IMF support, is classified as being a bigger risk among European emerging-market governments. Surely all those highly dedicated, bright, and extremely able young people who are doing all that trading know what they are about, don't they?

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow 13 October 2008 Many holdings are up for saleOligarchs 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….

Someone from Renaissance believes that more Washington decides to play around in Georgia and the Ukraine, the worse the Russian stock market will perform. To us, that seems to be a clear demonstration of a transparency problem. Marina Akopian, a partner at London-based emerging markets boutique Hexam Capital (a joint venture with Resolution Asset Management) says: 'Prices bear little or no relation to results, with sellers getting rid indiscriminately of winners and losers.' She cites potash producer UralKali, whose share price is down some 70 per cent over three months despite first-half revenue growth of 114 per cent and net income up 261 per cent year on year. 'The plunge would not have been so steep had the government done some more explaining,' says Igor Yurgens, head of government relations at Renaissance Capital, Russia's largest privately owned investment bank. 'It needs to be more open about its medium and long-term ...

Business New Europe Jason Corcoran in Moscow September 25, 2008The experience of enduring Russia's last financial crisis in 1998 was burned into the psyche of Stephen Jennings when he opted on September 22 to sell half of his investment bank Renaissance Capital to billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov. Forsaking the bank's treasured independence was a tough call for its chief executive, but better than facing the prospect of teetering towards extinction as it did in 1998 when the Russian government's default reduced Renaissance to a shell and forced Jennings to slash the headcount to 190 staff, from 650. "We have a large shareholder base, a great team in place and 1,500 employees in the bank. We could have run the gauntlet and I think we would have made it, but we didn't know what was ...