Page 8 - bne_Magazine_July_2018

8 I The Month That Was bne July 2018
Business
Eastern Europe
Russia's largest oil company Ros-
neft will not lose contracts with the troubled private Chinese energy major CEFC, which cancelled the acquisition of 14.16% in the company for $9.1bn earlier this year. A trading deal to acquire 10mn tonnes of crude oil annu- ally from Rosneft for five years stands and will be sold.
Crops in Russia and Ukraine have been hurt by hot dry weather that may reduce the harvest this year. Drought has afflicted the southern Russian regions and Ukraine. Russia col- lected a record-high harvest of 134mn tonnes in 2017 and previous estimates said Russia was on track for 116.9mn tonnes this year, but the harvest could fall as low as 100mn.
One of Russia's largest agricultural producers RusAgro halted negotia- tions to acquire the poultry producer Belaya Ptica (White Bird) from the former co-owner of bailed out Promsvy- azbank (PSB) Dmitri Ananyev. There are no details on why the deal failed.
The co-owner and chairman of the board of one of Russia's largest air- ports Vnukovo Vitaly Vantsev will buy 25%+1 stake in the airport from state property agency Rosimushestvo, bring his total shake to 38.5%. Vnukovo is Rus- sia’s third largest airport.
Car and light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales in Russia remained strong in May, with total sales up by 18% year-on-year to 0.147mn units, accord- ing to the Association of European Businesses (AEB), which monitors the sector. The January-May sales increased by 20% y/y to 0.693mn units.
Central Europe
The Czech steel industry is recovering from a 15% contraction in production in 2017 and is expected to produce 5mn
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of tonnes of manufactured steel this year. The tariffs imposed by the US on steel are not a problem say the companies.
Fewer Finns are visiting Estonia to stock up on cheap booze. According to Finnish public broadcaster Yle, statistics from the National Institute for Health and Welfare show the amount of alcohol brought into Finland from Estonia by Finns fell 23.1% y/y in April.
UK hypermarket chain Tesco remained the largest retailer in Hun- gary with a gross revenue of HUF809bn (€2.53bn) in 2017, according to the annual listing from Trade magazine. Tesco operates 112 hypermarkets across Hungary, many more than its rivals, and has opened dozens of new con- venience stores in the past few years.
French bank Societe Generale is prob- ing the possibility of selling its Polish lender Eurobank, Reuters report-
ed. The country’s persisting low interest rates – the central bank’s rate has been at a record low of 1.5% for over three years now – has led to profitability issues for smaller banks such as Eurobank.
Southeast Europe
Turkey wants to impose new require- ments on textile companies importing material from China, a prospect that is alarming leaders of one of the country’s biggest export industries. A quarter of Turkey’s $10.1bn of textile imports last year were from China.
The World Bank has not decided whether to finance a new 500 MW
coal-fired power plant in Kosovo due to be built by US energy group Contour- Global.
China's Hisense Electric Co further increased its stake in Slovenian house- hold appliances manufacturer Gorenje Group to slightly over 33%. Hisense acquired a 10.74% stake from Panasonic, which exited the Slovenian company.
The Green for Growth Fund financed two of the first large-scale wind farms in Serbia, the Alibunar wind farm and the Cibuk 1 wind farm. Serbia aims to generate 27% of its energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2020.
Eurasia
Kazakh and Chinese businesses signed 40 deals worth $13bn during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Qingdao. Many of the projects are in tune with China’s goal of turning Kazakhstan into one of its transit hubs with modern infrastructure for Chinese goods heading to Europe.
Austria’s Oberbank said it is to with- draw from Iran due to the sanctions the US plans to impose against the country and foreign companies that continue to do business there. The bank was one of the first Western banks to agree a deal to provide trade and investment finance to Iran.
Fag cadgers are now a more common sight in downtown Tehran after a com- pany owned by the Iranian capital’s government banned white-box street kiosks from selling cigarettes.
Iran Khodro, the Islamic Republic’s biggest car producer, halted all sales of new cars amid a push to increase the overall prices of its vehicles. The sudden halt in sales comes with Iran’s currency, the Iranian rial (IRR), down more than 50% against a basket of hard currencies on the unofficial market.