Saudi Arabia oil minister Ali al-Naimi: We won’t cut production to prop up prices December 22, 2014 Saudi Arabia’s oil minister has insisted the country will not cut oil production to prop up prices, despite the key commodity collapsing by a further 25 per cent in value over the past month. “Whether it goes down to $20, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant,” Ali al-Naimi said yesterday. “We are [...]
Morgan Stanley sale to Rosneft fails to win regulatory approval December 22, 2014 RUSSIAN oil firm Rosneft’s deal to buy Morgan Stanley’s oil merchant business has collapsed after United States regulators refused to clear it. Although the sale of the business was inked before the US and the EU imposed sanctions on Russia over its interference in Ukraine, its collapse had been expected as the political winds changed. [...]
Which were the best and worst investments of 2014? December 22, 2014 This year low interest rates have seen investors who bet on traditional investments receive returns tantamount to chickenfeed. Perhaps we should have given up before we'd all even started? Perhaps not. Investors who plumped for chocolate, property, the US dollar and Aim-listed company Fitbug would have watched as their money practically grew on trees. Conversely, [...]
Xiaomi could be worth more than Uber, Twitter, LinkedIn and Netflix after $1bn investment round December 22, 2014 A Beijing-based company which has become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker in the space of four years is now said to be worth more than the likes of Uber, Twitter, LinkedIn and Netflix after its latest funding round. Xiaomi has raised $1bn (£640m) from a host of investors, valuing the firm at more than $45bn, [...]
Eight charts that sum up 2014 December 22, 2014 This year will be remembered for the fragmentation of mainstream politics, Scotland's near exit from the 307-year old union and an economy which the Bank's chief economist Andy Haldane described as "writhing in both agony and ecstasy." What does all that look like? Here are eight charts that sum up the year. (Source: Getty) 1. [...]
Tough year for Rosneft could impact on BP December 21, 2014 OIL FIRM BP could feel the impact of problems with the Russian economy as a result of its 19.75 per cent stake in Rosneft, bought in March 2013. The $25bn (£16bn) deal, which saw BP sell its 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft for $12.3bn in cash plus stock, was seen as [...]
Man once known as “Putin’s banker” loses £1.3bn battle in UK high court December 19, 2014 Vladimir Putin's former "banker" has lost a $2bn (£1.3bn) legal battle in the UK courts. The man in question is Sergei Pugachev, a former Russian senator. Pugachev had sought to overturn a UK court order issued in July this year that froze his global assets due to a $2bn claim made against a collapsed bank he [...]
Putin and the rouble: EU leaders stick to their guns over sanctions December 19, 2014 Even as the rouble continues its inexorable decline, hand in hand with global oil prices, EU leaders are refusing to budge over sanctions on Russia. At a summit meeting in Brussels all the talk was of “stay[ing] the course” and taking “further steps if necessary,” not relaxing the sanctions swaddling the Russian economy. Chief among [...]
Should Arsenal and Chelsea fans be worried by Usmanov and Abramovich’s £803m loss? December 19, 2014 It’s not often you find London football fans taking an interest in the Russian stock market. But such is the nature of modern football, that the fortunes of two billionaires' assets on the spiralling Russian stock market was reported in relation to the fortunes of two of the capital’s biggest clubs. As the [...]
Putin: Effects of the rouble crisis will “last two years under the most unfavourable circumstances” December 18, 2014 Buoyed, presumably, by the triumph of being named Russia’s man of the year for the 15th year in a row just hours ago, this morning Vladimir Putin climbed on to the podium to give a press conference to 1,300-odd journalists in what has become known as his answer to a “state of the nation address”. [...]