Page 9 - BNE_magazine_11_2019

bne November 2019 The Month That Was I 9
Finance
Eastern Europe
Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development considers proposing
a 1.17% minority stake in national air carrier Aeroflot to private investors
by 2022, Kommersant daily reported on October 18. Reportedly, the initiative could be supported by the Finance Ministry, but is likely to be opposed by the Ministry of Transportation. Selling a 1.17% stake would cut state ownership to 50%.
The valuation of Russian container operator Transcontainer soared
ahead of a proposed privatisation of
a majority share in Russia’s leading logistics company. Investors estimated the value of shares in the Russian container operator Transcontainer in the past 1.5 months had exceeded the asking price at the upcoming Russian Railways auction 1.6-fold. The market value of the 50% plus 2 shares stands at RUB58.7bn, going up by 21% since the auction has been announced and exceeding the starting asking price of RUB36bn.
Ukraine’s finance ministry only raised UAH77.2mn ($3.1mn) from the sale of three-month, one-year and two-year bonds at its weekly bond auction on October 1 – an almost negligible amount compared to the UAH13bn ($524mn) raised at the auction a week earlier.
Central Europe
Hungary's largest lender OTP Bank is reported to be among the potential buyers for the 69.3% stake in the Polish subsidiary of Commerzbank, local media reported on October 18. With a market capitalisation of PLN16.2 trillion (€3.8bn) and balance sheet total PLN152 trillion mBank is the fourth largest lender in the country. OTP has no presence in Poland.
The Czech average mortgage interest rate fell to 2.47% year-on-year in September from 2.61% in August,
down for the eighth consecutive month. The rate’s low point was 1.77% set
in December 2016. The number of mortgages in September increased
by 206 contracts to 6,359 month- on-month. Cheaper mortgage rates attracted more clients to the banks
than in August, however, the volume of mortgages provided amounted only to CZK15bn (€582.3mn), down by CZK6bn (€232.9mn) y/y.
The International Investment Bank (IIB) has successfully closed its second forint bond transaction with a three-year maturity and
a fixed coupon on the Budapest
Stock Exchange, the Budapest-based development bank announced on October 18. Our second bond placement on the local capital market confirmed the high potential, the attractiveness
of Hungary for investors, as well as
the sound and sustainable
business climate in the country,
said chairman Nikolay Kosov.
Southeast Europe
Turkey’s Banking Association (TBB) has announced that it is set to launch a restructuring programme for companies with more than Turkish lira (TRY) 25mn ($4.23mn) in debt owed
to banks. The programme is designed for companies which intended to pay their debts but could not because of damage to their income-expense balance. The TBB added that bankrupt companies would not be able to benefit from the programme and that approval was pending for extending it to smaller companies.
Turkey’s housing loans volume increased by as much as Turkish lira (TRY) 11.3bn (€1.4bn) from end-July to stand at TRY189bn as of October 11 after banks slashed costs on lending. State-owned lenders took the lead in cutting interest rates on housing loans and private lenders followed suit.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it is considering lending up to €100mn ($111mn) to UniCredit Leasing Croatia to back small business and the green economy in the country. The funds will be used to provide leases to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Croatia and to support the green economy transition approach by dedicating at least 60% of the facility to the financing of leases for green equipment and technologies.
Eurasia
Kazakh President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev ordered the central bank on October 15 to seek higher returns, according to a statement by his office. The central bank has started allocating more of the $59.4bn fund’s assets
in alternative investments, but the investments are mostly concentrated in low-yield bonds. The fund saw its assets increase by 2% y/y in the first nine months of this year, a government briefing revealed on October 14.
The stock of Hungarian retail government securities held by households reached HUF8.8
trillion (€26.5bn) by the end
of September, an increase of HUF725bn from Q2, the state debt manager AKK announced on October 18. The outstanding stock of forint retail government securities rose by HUF571bn in Q2. The subscription of the new super bond was the main driver behind the growth in households' assets in the last four months. The five-year retail bond with an attractive yield
was launched in June and drew record demand instantly.
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