£2.5bn London IPO for Russian phone network April 24, 2012 RUSSIAN mobile phone network MegaFon is set to launch the largest London IPO of the last year, raising up to $4bn (£2.5bn). Investors yesterday announced that they had reached an agreement to float 20 per cent of the firm “as soon as practically possible”, according to Scandinavian telecoms firm and shareholder Teliasonera. It is understood [...]
BEST of the BROKERS April 23, 2012 HERITAGE OIL UBS has upgraded the oil and gas group from “neutral” to “buy” and maintained its target price on the stock at 190p following recent weakness in the shares. The brokers says that the 22 per cent fall in the share price since the start of the year is “unjustified” given the company’s unchanged [...]
Russian oligarch warns London of complacency April 22, 2012 IT is an unusual perspective, albeit one that Oleg Deripaska clearly passionately believes in. A major philanthropist himself, the Russian tycoon, speaking exclusively to City A.M., describes oligarchs as the drivers of progress in Russia through their hefty donations to education, culture and public health. To UK ears, this is a fresh and fascinating take: [...]
Russia threatens to sue TNK-BP over alleged oil spills in Siberia April 19, 2012 BP’s joint venture in Russia was last night threatened with legal action from the government in connection with alleged oil spills in Siberia. Shares in TNK-BP, which accounts for 29 per cent of BP’s total production and 27 per cent of its reserves, slumped five per cent after natural resources and ecology minister Yuri Trutnev [...]
Strong first quarter from UK’s exporting car manufacturers April 19, 2012 THE MANUFACTURING sector has received a strong boost from carmakers, as industry figures yesterday showed the 11th consecutive month of output growth. Car output rose 0.3 per cent in March, taking growth over the first quarter to 12.3 per cent. A total of 135,456 cars were made in the month, with 79.6 per cent – [...]
Promethean sees sales plunge April 18, 2012 INTERACTIVE whiteboard firm Promethean World yesterday revealed a dramatic sales drop in its key North American market, causing its share price to tumble a further 20 per cent. Blaming “challenging market conditions”, the interim management statement showed revenues of £35.9m for the first quarter of 2012, a 14.4 per cent decline on the same period [...]
Russia’s O1 Properties to float April 18, 2012 RUSSIAN real estate group O1 Properties has said it plans to float in London, in a public offering that could raise at least $400m. The firm, which has a portfolio of properties across Moscow worth more than $2bn, said it will use the funds to buy two new buildings in the city and repay some [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 18, 2012 Sberbank As part of the integration of Sberbank of Russia and Troika Dialog, Elena Shilina has been appointed head of the private banking group. She will report directly to Ruben Vardarian, president of Troika. Since May 2011, Shilina has headed the Sberbank-Troika integration committee. She has previously worked for Nomos Bank as vice-president, McKinsey, Rosbank [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 17, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Canadian approached for BoE job Mark Carney, governor of Canada’s central bank, has been informally approached to be a candidate to replace Sir Mervyn King as head of the Bank of England in June next year. One of the world’s most respected central bankers, Carney also heads the Financial Stability Board, which oversees [...]
It’s true: There’s a real danger that fracking will cause a major boom April 17, 2012 A REPORT commissioned by the government and released yesterday has given the green light to the extraction of shale gas. The report concludes that hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a technology that pumps water and chemicals underground to fracture shale formations in order to release trapped gas, is safe but requires tight regulation and seismic monitoring. The [...]