Page 9 - BNE_magazine_bne_September 2019

bne September 2019 The Month That Was I 9
Finance
Eastern Europe
Russia's natural gas giant and pipeline exports monopolist Gazprom could SPO an additional 3.7% of its quasi- treasury shares in the next few months to cash in again on a dramatic rally in the company’s share price in July after it doubled its dividend payout, Bloomberg reported citing unnamed sources. The stake, which reportedly will be sold to foreign investors through local brokers, would be worth RUB200bn ($3bn) at current valuations.
Russian carsharing start-up Delimo- bil could hold an IPO at the end of 2020 on Moscow Exchange, Interfax reported on August 7 citing the head of Mikro Kapital Group Vincenzo Trani.
The Central Bank of Russia esti-
mates its losses from the banking sector clean-up at RUB0.75 trillion
– RUB1.44 trillion ($11.5bn-$22bn), Vedomosti daily said on August 6 citing the deputy head of the CBR Vasily Poz- dyshev. The estimates are much lower than the previous unconfirmed figure
of $40bn that the CBR spent only on bailing out country's major private banks Financial Corporation Otkritie, Binbank (aka B&N Bank) and Promsvyazbank since they were nationalised in 2017.
The Russia-led Eurasian Develop- ment Bank (EDB) is going to provide a $300mn loan to Belarusian state- owned potash miner Belaruskali, the lender's deputy chairman of the board Amangeldy Isenov.
The latest US sanctions against Russia
could actually support the domestic federal OFZ bonds. The sanctions limit the buying of Russian sovereign debt on
the primary market but do not men- tion the OFZ. Foreign investors have increased their share in OFZ this year and current hold almost a third of the outstanding bonds.
Ukraine central bank removes restric- tion on foreign currency purchases The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) decided to allow Ukraine-based compa- nies to purchase foreign currency at the expense of UAH-denominated credit funds starting from August 8.
Dragon Capital forecasts the hryvnia/ dollar exchange rate will end the year where it started – UAH27.5. Reserves end this year down 5% y/y to $20bn. Dragon writes: “We expect foreign inflows to slow in the coming months
as global credit markets grew more risk- averse due to renewed US-Chinese trade frictions, while the Finance Ministry has only moderate borrowings need to cover by the end of the year and will likely limit issuance.”
1.1% y/y to €868.4mn, and net fees and commissions income grew by 4.5% y/y to €298mn.
Southeast Europe
Albania raised ALL9.3bn (€77mn) in one-year T-bills in an auction held on August 6, missing the target offer of ALL9.8bn, central bank data indicated.
The total value of gross loans extended by Kosovan banks went up by 11.3% year on year to €2.903bn at end-May, after rising by 10.9% in the previous month.
The turnover on the Macedonian Stock Exchange (MSE) jumped 113.4% m/m to MKD798.2mn (€13mn) in July, after plunging 66.2% m/m a month earlier. The hike was due to the higher turnover in block transactions.
Eurasia
France reportedly proposed provid-
ing Iran with a $15bn credit line
that would oil the wheels of the EU’s Instex channel for Iranian and European companies looking to trade with each other without incurring US sanctions.
Georgia’s currency, the lari, slightly strengthened against the dollar after the central bank sold $32.8mn of $40mn offered to banks at an exchange auction. The currency is under pressure amid Russian sanctions directed
at tourism in Georgia after anti- Russian protests.
Central Europe
The value of mortgage loans Poles took out rose 9.5% y/y to PLN5.42bn (€1.27bn) in June while consumer loans were worth 0.1% less or PLN7.42bn in annual terms, Poland’s credit analysis firm BIK said on July 25. The growth in the value of mortgages is linked to the ongoing boom for residential property
in Poland that is pushing prices up.
Hungarian bond yields headed for record lows after they declined by around 100bp over a five-month period in July. The 5- and 10-year maturity gov- ernment bonds fell more than 30bp last month and by 80-90bp in five months.
Total profits for the Slovakian banking sector increased to €345.6mn in 1H19, up by 2.2% year on year, data from the Slovak National Bank (NBS) reported. Net interest income, which accounts for the biggest part of banking sector revenues, dropped by
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