In its current issue, Global Finance Magazine lists what it calls the “Stars of the New Russia” across a variety of business sectors. A lot of the preamble will probably not come as a shocker to those watching Russia on a continuous basis, but there are a couple of quotes that leapt out at me:
Kingsmill Bond, London-based senior Russia analyst at Troika Dialog:
“Russian corporates are used to handling volatility and difficult times. They can adapt quite quickly. Other countries are not used to such dramatic changes in the economic landscape. Russian firms are used to being thrown around and rebounding very quickly. They have had periods of high growth and high inflation in the past, and they have recovered. Russia is better positioned to bounce back when markets return. Russia will bounce back harder and quicker [than in 1998].”
Alexandra Evtifyeva, Senior Economist of VTB:
“They still need to do a lot on cleaning of banks’ balance sheets. Non-performing loan levels are rising quickly.” Most estimates put the proportion of non-performing loans in the system at between 10% and 20%. “There will be a major shakeout of Russia’s 900 banks. Risks are quite concentrated in the largest banks. The smallest banks don’t take risks. We expect some restructuring in the banking sector.”
Unnamed analyst:
“The country needs to produce a good-bank/bad-bank structure, but politicians appear to be shying away from the big decision.” Such a lack of clarity mirrors the early reluctance of Russia’s politicians to admit that the country was facing any sort of crisis.
Ok, enough of the peanut gallery. On to the award winners:
Beverages – Baltika Breweries
Consumer – Magnit
Gas – Novatek
Media – Rambler Media
Non-Ferrous Metals and Mining – Polyus Gold
Oil – Rosneft
Steel – TMK
Telecom – MTS
Transport – Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport
Utilities – Mosenergo
Domestic Bank – VTB
Foreign Bank – ZAO Citibank
Regional Bank – UralSib
Domestic Investment Bank – Troika Dialog
Foreign Investment Bank – Credit Suisse
Commercial Bank – Sberbank
Consumer Bank – ZAO Raiffeisenbank
FX Bank – VTB
Domestic Trade Finance – VTB
International Trade Finance – Deutsche Bank
Asset Management – Troika Dialog
Fixed Income Sales and Distribution – ZAO Standard Bank
Syndicated Lending – JP Morgan
Bookrunner / Primary Equities – Morgan Stanley
International M&A – Morgan Stanley
Equity Research – Troika Dialog
Domestic Bond Research – Troika Dialog
Eurobond Research – Deutsche Bank
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3 Comments
I am thrilled to see my friend, Sergei Galitsky’s company Magnit listed. I have known Sergei for over 14 years I can tell you that he has spent almost that entire time focused on building Magnit (originally Tander) 24/7 (literally).Back in 2007, Sergei and I visited Boston and stopped MV Ventures (www.mventures.com) and purchased a very pricey “private book” on Walmart.Sergei had the book translated and almost quite literally proceeded to memorize the book and Walmart’s history and strategy. People often refer to Magnit as the “Russian Walmart.”The results of that effort speak for themselves. Magnit now has more than 2,600 small supermarkets throughout all of Russia and has now built 18 hypermarkets. Sales surpass $6 billion and the company’s stock is traded in Moscow and London (mgnt).It should be fascinating to watch as the original Walmart enters the Russian market (2010?) and goes head to head with Magnit. Knowing Sergei as well as I do my money is on him.If you would like any information of Magnit please feel free to contact me at the email address here (click my name).Sorry for gushing so much about Magnit but I was a very small part of its founding back in 1995 and I feel a lot of pride in watching Sergei achieve what he told me he would many many years ago sitting by the river eating sheeshlik. It’s pretty cool to see a real Russian entrepreneur do good by doing well (i.e. always low prices for the regular folk).
Correction:I must be getting old.Sergei and I visited Boston back in 1997 (not 2007). ))))
Interesting personal story, Timothy. Let me wish your friend Sergei continuous success! Russia needs as many people like that as she can find! (Your description makes me think of my wife’s uncle Vitya, a Russian-speaking Ukrainian entrepreneur who made a lot of money offering cheap transportation to Crimea. His business is not as big as magnit, but the same tenacity, adaptability, and desire to learn from others that you mention for your friend also impressed me in uncle Vitya.)