Page 6 - bne_newspaper_July_13_2018

The Regions This Week
July 13, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Central Europe
Czechia has a new government after Ano Babis’ cabinet was endorsed by a confidence vote. Babis’ Ano will rule in coalition with the Social Demo- cratic CSSD, with the backing of the Communists.
Lithuania suffered the EU’s biggest population decline in 2017, Eurostat data showed. Five other East European member states — Croatia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary — also saw their populations decline, alongside Greece, Portugal and Italy.
German engineering giant Bosch laid the cor- nerstone for a HUF37bn (€11.7mn) expansion of its Budapest development centre, adding 90,000 m2 of space to the facility by 2021. Bosch, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first Hungarian unit this year, is the biggest foreign employer in Hungary with 13,000 employees, operating nine units in the country.
Czechia is among the countries most endan- gered by the trade war between the US and EU, according to a survey of analysts by the Czech News Agency (CTK). The main reason is the coun- try's dependency on the car industry.
The Slovak government will buy 14 US F-16 Block 70/72 fighter jets to replace the country's ageing fleet of Russian-made MiGs, rather than Swedish JAS-39 Gripens. It is the biggest mod- ernisation purchase by the Slovak military to date.
Latvia is to host the new Nato headquarters for northern Europe, the Ministry of Defense in Riga confirmed. The headquarters in Azazi, Latvia “will strengthen Nato collective defense and clearly demonstrate the support of the alliance in pro-
moting European security," said Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis.
Danske Bank’s head of compliance stepped down after “intense” work following a money launder- ing scandal at the Danish lender’s Estonian branch. Anders Meinert Jorgensen said his deci- sion to step down was not directly linked to the scandal but that the “past year in Danske Bank has been very intense”.
There only were 10 IPOs on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the second quarter, their value totalling €48mn, as the bourse has gone nearly a year without a major offering that would re-ignite foreign investors' interest, a report by consul- tancy company PwC said on. The value of IPOs in the second quarter dropped over 91% in annual terms, the data compiled by PwC showed.
Czech-European investment bank Benson Oak is establishing a new venture capital fund for tech start-ups in Israel. The fund already has $25mn and plans to add $100mn during the year.
The private placement of Hungarian BILK Logisz- tikai shares was unsuccessful. The operator of Budapest’s largest intermodal terminal cancelled its public offering, after interest in the share offer- ing was most likely dampened by the recent sharp weakening of the forint as the offering, as well as a dividend payment, was to take place in euros.
The Slovak economy should expand by 3.9% in 2018 and accelerate to 4.1% in 2019, Slovak commercial banks said in a survey carried out
by the Slovak Central Bank (NBS). The outlook is conservative when compared to previous surveys.
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