Wall Street Journal Europe
September 9, 2009
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
The chief financial officer of Russian state lender VTB, who left the bank today, is to become head of Barclays' global retail and commercial banking business in Russia in move the bank says is vital for it to "diversify internationally".
Nikolai Tsekhomsky, whose appointment is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Russia, will take over from Sergey Radchenkov at the helm of Expobank, Barclays’ retail and commercial business in Russia.
Tsekhomsky joined VTB with a specific remit to spearhead it the bank’s $8bn (€5.5bn) initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in May 2007, which is the second-largest listing by a Russia company. Domestic press and investors have criticised the bank followed the IPO as its share price has plummeted by 70%.
He has previously been chief financial officer for Renaissance Capital and financial controller for Brunswick, a Moscow brokerage subsequently sold to Switzerland’s UBS.
Tsekhomsky has been replaced as chief financial officer at VTB by Herbert Moos, who had been executive of VTB Bank Europe, an investment arm of VTB. A spokeswoman for VTB said no decision had been taken yet about a replacement for Moos. “Herbert will stay with us to help with a transition until we announce someone for the role,” she said.
Barclays reacquired Russian lender Expobank in March last year for $745m. The bank, which employs 1,800 staff in Russia, has since re-branded and revamped Expobank’s 36 branches in the west of the country Russia.
Analysts said last year that the $745m price tag, at four times Expobank's net asset value, was hefty but that the acquisition was relatively small and gave Barclays a place in a fast growing market.
In a statement issued to Financial News, the chairman of the board of directors of Barclays in Russia Hans-Joerg Rudloff, said: “This is an important step in the strategic development of Barclays in Russia and integral to Barclays ambitions to diversify internationally. We are optimistic about the growth opportunities in Russia and remain committed to the market in the future," he added.
Rudloff told Financial News in April the bank was launching a fresh campaign in Russia and would be building out further in investment and commercial banking, as well as retail.
Barclays' investment banking subsidiary Barclays Capital has steadily been growing its Moscow operation over the past year having hired extensively for back and middle office functions and yesterday announced the hire of Rothschild’s global co-head of financial institutions, Stefano Marsaglia, as chairman of its worldwide financial institutions group.
A senior hire to head up the investment banking team in Russia is expected with a number of senior Russian bankers in the frame.
Showing posts with label Barclays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barclays. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
UK banks splash out for Russian mission
Financial News
By Jason Corcoran
15 June 2009
Letter from Moscow
The opening last week of HSBC Bank’s first branches in central Moscow heralds a new British retail invasion of Russia.
The bank is spending $200m rolling out a retail and private banking network in Russia’s biggest cities. A large marquee was pitched on Moscow’s pedestrianised Tverskoi Boulevard as part of a week-long HSBC-sponsored festival of classical music.
The bank has hired 300 staff and some were on hand to welcome curious Muscovites. The main branch’s air-conditioning was appreciated, although many may perhaps have balked at the required minimum deposit of 75,000 roubles ($2,420), in a city where the average monthly salary is $800.
Other British high street banking brands have been popping up around the city. Barclays has just completed a rebranding of 36 branches of Expobank, which it acquired in March last year for $745m.
Royal Bank of Scotland acquired three offices in Moscow and one in St Petersburg following its acquisition of ABN Amro.
A year ago, British businessmen and investors were afraid they might become pariahs in Moscow following a dispute at Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP, the closure of the British Council’s offices in Russia and the Kremlin’s refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the London killing of dissident Alexander Litvinenko. Diplomatic relations between the two Governments sank to their lowest point since the Cold War.
The global economic crisis has helped paper over some of the political differences while the British seem happy to renew their interest in Russian expansion.
Russia remains one of the world’s last great untapped consumer markets even though rising unemployment, high inflation and a slowing growth rate make it a harder nut to crack.
The financial crisis took its toll on the luxury industry with boutiques in Moscow featuring British designers Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney forced to close in January, but now the consumer economy is picking up, helped by a stronger rouble and oil hitting $70 a barrel last week.
Upmarket UK department store Harvey Nichols is understood to be scouting for locations for a flagship store in central Moscow while British toy chain Hamleys has signed a franchise agreement to set up in the city.
Foreign direct investment into retail remains a safer bet than energy and other sectors where the Kremlin has erected “strategic investment” barriers.
Mergers and acquisitions almost tripled in volume during May compared to April as dealmaking returned. Barclays investment banking arm BarCap and other institutions are ramping up to capitalise on a recovery in capital markets.
But a startling resurgence in the domestic equity markets is not expected to translate into any initial public offerings until next year. Future foreign listings could also be hampered if a proposed law is passed limiting IPOs on foreign markets to 5% of Russian companies.
The new regulations are part of a drive to channel investment in Russian securities away from foreign markets and on to domestic exchanges, where low liquidity causes volatility. Such moves have boomeranged in the past, however, due to concerns about restrictions on foreign investment into Russia.
The target of this campaign is the London Stock Exchange, which has historically been the desired destination for Russian blue chips to list. The LSE abandoned a plan to open a representative office in Moscow last year after 43 companies from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States pulled their IPOs in the wake of the worst trading crisis in Russia since its sovereign default in 1998.
By Jason Corcoran
15 June 2009
Letter from Moscow
The opening last week of HSBC Bank’s first branches in central Moscow heralds a new British retail invasion of Russia.
The bank is spending $200m rolling out a retail and private banking network in Russia’s biggest cities. A large marquee was pitched on Moscow’s pedestrianised Tverskoi Boulevard as part of a week-long HSBC-sponsored festival of classical music.
The bank has hired 300 staff and some were on hand to welcome curious Muscovites. The main branch’s air-conditioning was appreciated, although many may perhaps have balked at the required minimum deposit of 75,000 roubles ($2,420), in a city where the average monthly salary is $800.
Other British high street banking brands have been popping up around the city. Barclays has just completed a rebranding of 36 branches of Expobank, which it acquired in March last year for $745m.
Royal Bank of Scotland acquired three offices in Moscow and one in St Petersburg following its acquisition of ABN Amro.
A year ago, British businessmen and investors were afraid they might become pariahs in Moscow following a dispute at Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP, the closure of the British Council’s offices in Russia and the Kremlin’s refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the London killing of dissident Alexander Litvinenko. Diplomatic relations between the two Governments sank to their lowest point since the Cold War.
The global economic crisis has helped paper over some of the political differences while the British seem happy to renew their interest in Russian expansion.
Russia remains one of the world’s last great untapped consumer markets even though rising unemployment, high inflation and a slowing growth rate make it a harder nut to crack.
The financial crisis took its toll on the luxury industry with boutiques in Moscow featuring British designers Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney forced to close in January, but now the consumer economy is picking up, helped by a stronger rouble and oil hitting $70 a barrel last week.
Upmarket UK department store Harvey Nichols is understood to be scouting for locations for a flagship store in central Moscow while British toy chain Hamleys has signed a franchise agreement to set up in the city.
Foreign direct investment into retail remains a safer bet than energy and other sectors where the Kremlin has erected “strategic investment” barriers.
Mergers and acquisitions almost tripled in volume during May compared to April as dealmaking returned. Barclays investment banking arm BarCap and other institutions are ramping up to capitalise on a recovery in capital markets.
But a startling resurgence in the domestic equity markets is not expected to translate into any initial public offerings until next year. Future foreign listings could also be hampered if a proposed law is passed limiting IPOs on foreign markets to 5% of Russian companies.
The new regulations are part of a drive to channel investment in Russian securities away from foreign markets and on to domestic exchanges, where low liquidity causes volatility. Such moves have boomeranged in the past, however, due to concerns about restrictions on foreign investment into Russia.
The target of this campaign is the London Stock Exchange, which has historically been the desired destination for Russian blue chips to list. The LSE abandoned a plan to open a representative office in Moscow last year after 43 companies from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States pulled their IPOs in the wake of the worst trading crisis in Russia since its sovereign default in 1998.
Monday, 20 April 2009
Rudloff Steps Down From Russian Media Company
Dow Jones International News
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow
April 20, 2009
Hans-Joerg Rudloff, chairman of Barclays Capital, is stepping down from the board of Russian media holding company RBC because of a conflict of interest over $18 million in debt owed to him and his friends.
Rudloff, who has sat on the board of the indebted financial news provider since its initial public offering in 2002, told Financial News he could no longer sit on the board and be a significant creditor.
He said: "I can't simultaneously represent the interest of the company and its creditors while the company is being restructured. Together with my family and friends, we are owed $18 million, which is about 8% of the company's overall debt of $210 million."
RBC has been struggling to refinance its debt and defaulted on a 1.5 billion rouble ($45 million) bond last month.
Rudloff said his decision was nothing to do with any outstanding loans to Barclays Capital.
The company, which is being advised by Swiss bank UBS AG (UBS), has been looking for a strategic investor since last summer.
Billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov has offered to bail out the company in return for a 65% stake. Under a plan drawn up by bankers at Renaissance Capital Group Inc. (RNCG), Prokhorov is offering to buy the majority holding in RBC for $35 million, which will help the company repay creditors and finance its activities.
German financier Rudloff, who is also a director of oil group Rosneft (ROSN.RS), is expanding Barclays Capital's Moscow operation. The investment bank currently has about a dozen bankers in Moscow working in debt capital markets.
Rudloff said: "Eventually we want to have full teams for the full range of equity markets and M&A but it's too early to say how many we are going to recruit."
Barclays' retail banking business acquired Russian lender Expobank in March last year for $745 million. It has rebranded and revamped Expobank's 36 branches in western Russia.
By Jason Corcoran in Moscow
April 20, 2009
Hans-Joerg Rudloff, chairman of Barclays Capital, is stepping down from the board of Russian media holding company RBC because of a conflict of interest over $18 million in debt owed to him and his friends.
Rudloff, who has sat on the board of the indebted financial news provider since its initial public offering in 2002, told Financial News he could no longer sit on the board and be a significant creditor.
He said: "I can't simultaneously represent the interest of the company and its creditors while the company is being restructured. Together with my family and friends, we are owed $18 million, which is about 8% of the company's overall debt of $210 million."
RBC has been struggling to refinance its debt and defaulted on a 1.5 billion rouble ($45 million) bond last month.
Rudloff said his decision was nothing to do with any outstanding loans to Barclays Capital.
The company, which is being advised by Swiss bank UBS AG (UBS), has been looking for a strategic investor since last summer.
Billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov has offered to bail out the company in return for a 65% stake. Under a plan drawn up by bankers at Renaissance Capital Group Inc. (RNCG), Prokhorov is offering to buy the majority holding in RBC for $35 million, which will help the company repay creditors and finance its activities.
German financier Rudloff, who is also a director of oil group Rosneft (ROSN.RS), is expanding Barclays Capital's Moscow operation. The investment bank currently has about a dozen bankers in Moscow working in debt capital markets.
Rudloff said: "Eventually we want to have full teams for the full range of equity markets and M&A but it's too early to say how many we are going to recruit."
Barclays' retail banking business acquired Russian lender Expobank in March last year for $745 million. It has rebranded and revamped Expobank's 36 branches in western Russia.
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