Page 10 - bne_newspaper_November_17_2017 700

The Regions This Week
November 17, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Eastern Europe
Russian state-owned gas monopolist Gazprom floated a €750mn Eurobond with a coupon rate of 2.25% per annum. This is the lowest coupon rate for a Russian issuer in any currency with a term of seven years.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have gone to war with each other. The leading agency the Na- tional Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) opened a criminal probe into suspected extortion by members of a sister anti-corruption body.
Nato member Turkey completed the purchase
of Russia's S-400 air-defence system. It remains to be seen if the transaction, announced by Turk- ish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli, will infringe sanctions applied to Russia by the US.
The EBRD said Belarus has returned to growth after two years of recession. The bank revised upward the forecast for Belarus' GDP growth to 1.5% in 2017 from its previous estimate of a 0.5% contraction in its May assessment. The EBRD also improved next year’s forecast to 2% growth in 2018.
Russia’s industrial output stalled in October, fail- ing to show growth for the first time since March and posting 0% year-on-year growth and slipping by 0.1% in month-on-month seasonally adjusted terms, Rosstat agency said.
Russia's largest household electronics retailer M.Video said its main shareholder, the Safmar pension fund, is considering teaming up with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The Rus- sian e-commerce market, estimated at RUB500bn ($8.6bn), is rapidly growing and could reach 10% of the global market by 2025.
French lingerie producer Etam Group will open its own Russian branch instead of expanding its fran- chise operations. Russia is the group's fourth larg- est market with a share of 6-7% in total revenues.
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, adopted a new bill to make the privatisation
of state-owned enterprises easier so the pro- gramme can be restarted in the war-torn country.
Russia’s GDP growth disappointed by decelerating in Q3 to 1.8% y/y from 2.5% y/y in the second quarter, according to Rosstat. The released estimate is considerably lower that the flash estimates made by the economy ministry earlier of 2.2% y/y.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Belarus increased by $400mn, to $5.5bn in January- September compared to the same period of 2016, according to the Belstat state statistics agency.
Russia’s leading fish farmer, Russian Aquacul- ture, is planning an SPO of new ordinary shares on the Moscow Exchange. Russian Aquaculture is one of the leaders in the production of Atlantic salmon and trout in Russia.
The sentiment among Russian businesses im- proved to its highest level since June 2013 and regained its pre-crisis levels, according to the IHS Markit Russia Business Outlook survey.
Ukraine's real GDP grew 2.1% year-on-year in July-September, the Ukrstat state statistics agency in Kyiv reported. But that is slower than the 2.3% y/y growth in April-June and 2.5% y/y growth in the first quarter.
Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, beat market estimates with its largest-ever quarterly net profit of RUB224.1bn ($3.7bn), as the state- owned giant saw individual loan growth outpace corporate lending. The record profit is 20.7% higher than its previous best.