Page 21 - bne_newspaper_November_09_2018

Eurasia
November 9, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
bne:Tech
May, 2018 www.intellinews.com @bneintellinews
Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn Jaroslav Hroch in Prague
Avast, which owns the popular consumer antivirus company AVG, will apply to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange in the hope of raising $200mn (CZK4.1bn) in primary proceeds from an IPO, the Czech-founded company announced on April 12.
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St Petersburg's start-up scene flourishes on high talent and low costs
Contents
Avast to enter London bourse
in bid to raise up to $1bn 1 Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn 2 St Petersburg's start-up scene
flourishes on high talent and low costs 3 Romania entrepreneur aims to put home-grown UAV defence technology industry on the map 6
FinTech
Russia's mobile major MTS increases stake in Ozon to 16.7% 9
Blockchain
Romanian startups at the heart
of blockchain energy trading rally 10
Central Europe
Russian-Lithuanian startup Gosu.ai
raises $1.9mn from Russian and
French investors 13
Eurasia
Iran hit by cyber attack that left US
flag on screens 14 Iranian government set to block hugely popular Telegram messaging app 15 Iran's black market phone disconnection drive pushes up legal mobile imports 15
Eastern Europe
Internet catches up with TV on Russian
ad market 17 Sales of connected appliances jump
in Russia 17 Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 18 Russia ranks second in the world
for digital piracy 18 Russian messaging service Telegram raised another $850mn with ICO 19
Southeast Europe
Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 20
The Regions This Month 21
Filip Brokes in St Petersburg
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“Nevertheless banking sector problems may affect the upgrade probability for next year if rating agencies conclude that the banking system outlook undermines sovereign financial stability.”
Lingering troubles might still be troubling the Kazakh banking sector despite last year’s $7.5bn bailout by the state. The country’s second largest lender, Tsesnabank, recently received €1.1bn in support from the central bank. It also appears to be exposed to bad loans in the agricultural sector – agriculture is prioritised by the government as one key area for diversification away from over- dependence on oil exports.
A number of small banks in the country, including Qazaq Banki and Kazakhstan Eximbank, were
not so lucky as to benefit from last year’s bailout. They received no state support and have been continuously lambasted by top officials for
poor performance. Their licences were recently revoked.
The country’s banking sector – still not fully recov- ered from the 2008-09 financial crisis – has been hit by a rise in bad loans since the slump in world crude oil prices and the tenge free-float in 2015, which depressed the entire Kazakh economy for two years until it switched trajectory and headed for recovery in 2017. The bailing out of Kazakh- stan's largest banks included a merger deal between KKB and Halyk, turning Halyk into the biggest Kazakh lender.
RBI International analysts said last week that their “current recommendation on Kazakh eu- robonds is ‘Hold’ taking into account the latest macro improvements while the medium-term outlook is positive due to a stronger likelihood of a positive re-rating of Kazakhstan by the leading rating agencies in 2019”.