Page 9 - BNE_magazine_10_2019 kolomoisky

bne October 2019 The Month That Was I 9
Finance
Eastern Europe
Russian agricultural holding RusAgro plans a secondary public offering (SPO) of $200mn-$300mn, Vedomosti daily reported September 22 citing unnamed market sources. As of September 19 the capitalisation of RusAgro in London stood at $1.47bn.
Central Europe
The Czech average mortgage
interest rate dropped for the seventh consecutive month to 2.61% in August, down from 2.68% in July.
In August, 6,153 mortgage loans for CZK14.294bn were signed, down by 2,322 clients year-on-year. The volume of loans dropped by almost CZK4.5bn, to below 2015 levels. The rate reached its minimum in December 2016, at 1.77%.
Czech banks and savings banks posted an increase in total net profit of CZK1.7bn (€65.8mn) year-on-year to CZK45.6bn (€1.7bn) in 1H19. The total assets amounted to CZK7.859tn (€304.08bn) in June, up by CZK580bn (€22.4bn) compared to the end of 2018. Profit from financial and oper- ating activities of banks increased by CZK5.5bn (€212.8mn) to CZK99.8bn (€3.86bn) y/y.
Redemptions of investment fund units in Hungary remained high in August as retail investors preferred the new super bond, monthly data released by the Asso- ciation of Hungarian Investment Fund and Asset Management Companies (BAMOSZ) on September 17 show. In the June- August period, HUF264bn (€792mn) were divested from investment funds.
Households subscribed HUF80bn (€24.1mn) of the new retail bond Map Plus, bringing the total stock pur- chased by retail investors to HUF1.98 trillion. The Plus bond, which pays an annualised yield of 4.95% if held for the full five-year maturity, attracted record demand in the first week at HUF529bn,
and weekly subscription remained over HUF100bn until the seventh week after its launch.
Hungarian banks reported near-record profit in the first half spurred by an upswing in lending, but the branch
of networks continued to shrink, the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) said.
Southeast Europe
Slovenian banks’ combined net profit totalled €355.9mn in the first half of 2019, up by 20.4% from a year earlier. Higher profit was driven by an above- average increase in net non-interest income, and a moderate rise in net interest income.
Swedish investment fund Green- bridge has purchased a 75% stake in major Romanian furniture producer and retailer Rus Savitar-Casa Rusu, developed by local entrepreneur Cristian Rusu and his family. According to the information provided by Rusu, the Rus Savitar-Casa Rusu group had a cumula- tive turnover of €48.5mn in 2018 and 1,300 employees.
The Bucharest Stock Exchange
(BVB) is close to being upgraded to emerging market status by the FTSE Russel index maker. This is the first time that BVB has had a chance of being upgraded, said Adrian Tanase, general manager of Bucharest Stock Exchange. The change in status would attract more investment into the market.
Romanian restitution fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP) summoned its
shareholders on November 15 to approve its 11th buyback campaign, under which the managers of the fund plan to repurchase up to 800mn of
the fund’s shares (8.8% of its shares) starting January 2020. The management has earmarked RON1.6bn (€336mn) for the buyback.
The volume of mergers and acqui- sitions that took place in Turkey between January and mid-September amounted to a mere $1.3bn, according to KMPG. Earlier predictions had put the expected M&A volume at around $7.4bn for this year. In 2018, Turkey saw some $12bn worth of M&A.
Turkey’s banking watchdog BDDK
on September 17 instructed banks
to write off Turkish lira (TRY) 46bn ($8.1bn) of loans by year end and set aside loss reserves. The markets will take it as a big move against fallout from the currency crisis that has punished Turkey’s economy.
Eurasia
Kazakh financial group Kaspi.kz, which currently owns Kazakhstan’s third-largest lender Kaspi Bank, plans to list shares in London this year,
it said in a statement on September 16. Kaspi.kz stands as a major player in Kazakh payment systems and e-commerce, while Kaspi Bank is
a retail-focused lender.
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