Page 18 - bne_newspaper_September_14_2018

Opinion
September 14, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
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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The Meghri FEZ will be developed in two stages. During the first stage, basic infrastructure for the launch of the FEZ will be prepared. The second phase will involve the expansion of FEZ opera- tions with additional infrastructure rolled out over approximately 70 hectares of land to provide a business-friendly environment.
Geopolitical quandary
A close look at Armenia’s geopolitical quandary shows how all substantial regional energy and railroad projects circumvent the country. Though a modest breakthrough, the Meghri FEZ is a meaningful contribution to Yerevan’s broader push at breaking out of its isolation by fostering region- al cooperation where it can.
Indeed, there are positive trends under way which could help the Meghri FEZ raise its impact: Iran always expresses an interest in ramping up trade links to Russia — and with the Moscow-opposed US economic assault on Tehran under way, at
a time when Washington is also pressing home sanctions imposed against Russia and Turkey, the Russians, Turks and Iranians are exploring the pursuit of foreign trade in their own currencies rather than the dollar wherever possible — and the wider Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), with which it one day hopes to strike a fully-fledged free trade agreement.
Such an FTA would nicely fit into Iran’s strategy of increasing its political and economic influence in the South Caucasus. The obstacles on that road, however, are formidable. Russia and Turkey are both well represented both militarily and econom- ically in the region. Russia may not have opposed Meghri, but the Russians will continue obstructing any Iranian moves towards establishing new and independent energy pipelines that run through Armenia and Georgia.
When several years ago talks took place on build- ing a major pipeline that would transit Iranian gas through Armenian territory to Georgia, Moscow was quick to block the move. The Kremlin even bought a majority stake in the existing 140-kilo-