Azerbaijan tourism: Eurovision edition

May 22, 2012 7:45 pm by Courtney Weaver

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Eurovision kicks off Tuesday night in Baku and the Azerbaijani capital is decked out to the nines. The city’s imported London taxis are emblazoned with Eurovision designs and traffic billboards tick down the days to the song contest’s finale on Saturday which the government says it has spent $100m preparing for.

As thousands of first-time tourists start to pour into Baku from continental Europe, the country’s ministry of culture and tourism is looking at the first big test – and advertisement – for the country’s nascent tourism industry. Continue reading »

Tags: Azerbaijan economy, culture & entertainment, eurovision, tourism Posted in Azerbaijan | Permalink

Reading the new Russian cabinet

May 21, 2012 2:57 pm by Courtney Weaver

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Vladimir Putin has unveiled Russia’s new cabinet… and the make-up is largely as expected. Confirming rumours that have swirled around since Putin’s inauguration, we now know that Igor Shuvalov will remain first deputy prime minister, and that Arkady Dvorkovich, Medvedev’s chief economic aide, will join the cabinet for the first time as a deputy prime minister. Continue reading »

Tags: Russian equities, Russian politics Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Russia: let them eat caviar

April 23, 2012 6:01 pm by Courtney Weaver

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If you are looking for signs that the good times are back in Moscow, look no further than the posh Moscow embankment club The Apartment which on Friday hosted Russia’s (and presumably the world’s) first speed-eating contest of black caviar.

In a nod to America’s hot dog- and hamburger-eating contests, the Russian Caviar House decided to organise a rival competition of its own, albeit one that reportedly cost Rb2m ($70,000). Continue reading »

Tags: food & drink, luxury Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Megafon: stake sale and IPO

April 20, 2012 7:45 pm by Courtney Weaver

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After years of squabbling, an amicable parting of ways between Megafon shareholders appears to be close on the horizon. The Russian mobile operator announced on Friday that it had secured a total $4.5bn in financing from Sberbank, Gazprom and western lenders, paving the way for Megafon’s management and biggest shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, to buy out rival oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s stake in the business.

A sale of the 25 per cent stake (held through Altimo, the telecoms arm of Fridman’s Alfa-Group) is expected to speed along Megafon’s long-awaited IPO which could now take place in the second half of this year if everything goes accordingly. Continue reading »

Tags: M&A, Mikhail Fridman, oliga, telecoms, Usmanov Posted in Russia | Permalink

Yandex takes on Google in Turkey

April 18, 2012 8:01 pm by Courtney Weaver

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Can a regional internet giant find success in a foreign market? This is the question that Yandex, the Russian search engine, is asking as it seeks to replicate its Russian success in a country where it lacks the linguistic and cultural advantages it enjoys in Moscow.

Yandex launched its Turkish site, yandex.com.tr, in September, and is prepared to take on Google in other European markets where its American competitor holds a virtual monopoly. Continue reading »

Tags: Google, Russia tech, Russia-Turkey, technology, Yandex Posted in Europe, Russia, Turkey | Permalink

Russia Inc: jumping back on the Eurobond express

April 5, 2012 6:45 pm by Courtney Weaver

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After a near seven month lull, Russian corporates are returning to the Eurobond market in droves. Big name borrowers such as state-owned Russian Railways and VTB have followed on the heels of the Russian government, which last week raised $7bn in one of the biggest emerging market sovereign issues ever, while privately-owned borrowers, including Promsvyazbank and Raspadskaya, are expected to soon follow suit. Continue reading »

Tags: bonds, capital markets, Eurobond, fund raising, hard currency bonds, Russia eurobond Posted in Russia | Permalink

VTB in talks to buy Ingosstrakh stake

March 27, 2012 7:42 pm by Courtney Weaver

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Czech investment firm PPF has never seen eye-to-eye with Oleg Deripaska – its co-investor in Russian insurance group Ingosstrakh. The two sides have now been embroiled in conflict since PPF became a shareholder in the group in 2007, with Deripaska arguing that PPF’s purchase of 38.5 per cent of the company – without Deripaska’s prior approval – had ended up hurting the value of the oligarch’s own stake.

Now it seems that a solution to their problems could be close at hand. Continue reading »

Tags: financial services, Ingosstrakh, issurance, PPF, VTB Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Sberbank is ready for the market, but is the market ready for Sberbank?

March 15, 2012 4:37 pm by Courtney Weaver

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With Russia’s presidential election now done and dusted, a fresh window is opening for Russian initial public offerings – and Sberbank is once again planning a secondary share sale worth around $6bn.

The long-awaited second public offering (SPO), the crown jewel of the Russian government’s privatisation programme, may now go ahead as soon as mid-April.

Tags: banking, equities, Sberbank Posted in Russia | Permalink

Russia’s election cameras: what next?

March 13, 2012 6:21 pm by Courtney Weaver

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Cameras set up at polling booths provided endless hours of amusement on Russian election day earlier this month. Now Rostelecom, the Russian phone company, is looking to get more mileage out of the video surveillance system it helped install.

As Rostelecom announced today, the Rb13bn ($440m) video surveillance project will live on, helping to transmit classroom lessons via the web and provide more security in schools. Continue reading »

Tags: education, Rostelecom, Russian elections, security, technology Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Russian men cut costs on women’s day

March 8, 2012 4:34 pm by Courtney Weaver

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With Russia’s election out of the way, the country is moving onto bigger and better things: International Women’s Day, which is cause for a long holiday weekend beginning on Thursday.

Though perhaps overblown, the spending-oriented holiday provides a good moment for checking in on the state on the Russian retail economy and corporate economic sentiment.

Tags: leisure Posted in Russia | Permalink

Investors cheered by Russian vote

March 5, 2012 9:38 am by Courtney Weaver

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Russian markets took Vladimir Putin’s 64 per cent victory in their stride on Monday, with the RTS index rising 0.6 per cent and the Micex up 0.4 per cent by lunchtime in Moscow.

Investors are clearly relieved that Russia has avoided the uncertainty of a second round of voting, which would have happened if Putin had secured less than 50 per cent of the vote. Nevertheless, traders will be keeping an eye on a major opposition rally planned in Moscow on Monday night to gauge the threat of political unrest ahead. Continue reading »

Tags: elections, equities, Russian politics Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Russia’s first online election campaign

March 2, 2012 3:55 pm by Courtney Weaver

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Sunday’s presidential election may be a five-person race but you wouldn’t know it from trawling the Russian internet. As Russian daily Vedomosti notes today, only two of the candidates have been taking advantage of online ad spending: Mikhail Prokhorov and Vladimir Putin. Continue reading »

Tags: advertising, elections, politics, Putin, Russian elections, Russian politics Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Russia: investors sit tight ahead of polls

March 1, 2012 9:25 am by Courtney Weaver

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There are just four days to go until Russia’s presidential election. And how are investors handling the suspense? Very well, under the circumstances.

While many were expecting weeks of pre-election jitters that would send Russian markets down in the first quarter, Russia has actually been outperforming other emerging markets, with the RTS index up 4.5 per cent for the past week, and 24.4 per cent year to date. Continue reading »

Tags: equities, Russia markets, Russian elections, Russian politics Posted in Europe, Russia | Permalink

Dozhd TV: a gust of fresh air

February 27, 2012 6:16 pm by Courtney Weaver

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In a former chocolate factory across from the Kremlin, a group of twenty-something hipster journalists have been chronicling the ins-and-outs of the Moscow protest movement — and changing the way that Russians think about TV.

Dozhd TV (Rain TV), a two-year-old cable and internet TV station, has seen its star soar in recent months thanks to being one of the few TV outlets to cover the demonstrations in full, and offer frank political discussions with guests ranging from Vladimir Putin’s press secretary to opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Continue reading »

Tags: media, Russian politics Posted in Russia | Permalink

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