Russia

More for China than London in Russian hydro IPO

5 October 2017

Oleg Deripaska’s En+, which controls aluminium outfit Rusal, aims to raise $1.5 bln in an LSE and Moscow listing. It touts a green model, but public investors will have little say. The cornerstone backer, a partner of the PRC group that just bought into Rosneft, may do better.

Facebook owners ignore Russian affair at own peril

22 September 2017

The $500 bln social network's alleged role in election meddling has legislators flapping, regulators gearing up and even roiled Mark Zuckerberg from paternity leave. Yet Facebook's valuation, at 27 times forward earnings, remains robust. There's a risky disconnect at work here.

Russia’s state banks profit from financial turmoil

22 September 2017

The rescue of two private lenders has raised fears about the country’s banking sector. Savers have flocked to state-owned Sberbank and VTB, which have seen deposits swell by 1.2 pct and 18 pct, respectively this year. The tumult could leave the pair with better lending margins.

Russian bank aid plea tests too-big-to-fail triage

20 September 2017

B&N Bank, the country’s 12th-largest lender by assets, has asked for help less than a month after the central bank rescued rival Otkritie. Support would blur the line between systemically important banks and others. But rejecting the request could cause problems to spread.

Rosneft sale deepens China-Russia co-dependency

8 September 2017

The world’s second-largest oil consumer and producer are tightening their embrace as CEFC China buys a $9.1 bln stake in Rosneft. A controversial debt deal with Intesa can be unwound and sellers Glencore and Qatar hang on to some upside. It's a better arrangement all around.

Russian bailout rekindles too-big-to-fail angst

30 August 2017

Otkritie, one of Russia’s biggest lenders, is being rescued by the central bank. It shows the perils of aggressive expansion and Russia’s incomplete system for winding up financial giants. The state has tried to draw a line, but the fact a systemic bank is in trouble is worrying.

Uber plucks success from Russian game of chicken

13 July 2017

The ride-hailing service’s efforts to expand in eastern Europe didn’t have a chance at usurping Yandex – but it did make its rival’s losses balloon. Combining the businesses allows both to escape this trap, with a big paper profit for Uber.

U.S. Russia punch lands presidential double whammy

16 June 2017

Senators overwhelmingly backed sanctions on the old enemy as payback for the Kremlin’s election meddling. They also limited the White House’s ability to roll them back. That could leave Putin with a stalling economy and suggests Trump faces a harder time pushing his agenda.

Jared Kushner conflicts hang on White House wall

26 May 2017

Donald Trump's son-in-law is under FBI scrutiny over Russian contacts. He and Ivanka Trump also didn't disclose their art collection. And the Kushner family used Jared's name to drum up Chinese business. The entanglements undercut his role in the administration, and its agenda.

Only Russia can make OPEC great again

23 May 2017

Moscow is giving the cartel more pricing clout. A mooted deal to extend output cuts and drain global crude stockpiles can only succeed with the continued support of the world’s biggest crude producer. With U.S. drillers recovering, it may be time to make the alliance permanent.

Trump’s game-show FBI antics challenge investors

9 May 2017

Director James Comey was fired like a common "Apprentice" contestant, despite the president's recent praise. The timing also is suspect given the agency's probe into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties. Tax cuts have to be revalued by the market if the rule of law is under threat.

Glencore’s biggest foe is its swashbuckling self

23 February 2017

The mining giant has recovered from its near-death experience a year and a half ago. Net debt has halved to $15.5 billion and higher prices mean its mines are generating mountains of cash. Resisting the urge to spend it will be Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg’s biggest challenge.

Trump’s Flynn scandal has many corporate analogues

14 February 2017

Like messes that roiled firms from Wells Fargo to Valeant, the furor over the national security adviser's misleading statements over Russia point to a common problem: the management style of the CEO. The commander in chief has much to learn from real public-company bosses.

Hadas: How the liberal economy got lost

13 February 2017

As President Trump puts his promises on trade and migration into noxious practice, cowed elites are debating how their ideas failed. The big causes are forgotten history, ideological hubris, bad finance and excessive self-interest. Fixing those flaws is essential to any revival.

Russian toy IPO lacks a political risk discount

8 February 2017

Detsky Mir has priced its sale of new shares close to Lenta’s 2014 debut. Fair enough: it has a dominant position. Still, the conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in defiance of a European court ruling is a reminder that Russia plays to its own rules.

Deutsche Bank’s UK fine has spurious specificity

31 January 2017

The German bank must pay less than 10 pct what it theoretically could have for making suspect Russian trades. In 2014, the regulator handed RBS a hit five times the base case. Regulatory fines lose their effect if they're too random or, as here, too lenient.

Deutsche capital joy fails to offset Russian shame

31 January 2017

The German lender will pay only $630 mln to U.S. and UK regulators for failing to stop suspect Russian trades. Being deemed merely negligent means Deutsche Bank's weak solvency gets a leg up. But its litany of catastrophic systems errors will only cement a tarnished reputation.

Kaspersky finds fighting cybercrime leaves bruises

30 January 2017

The Russian group's jump in 2015 earnings shows protecting corporate clients from hacking is a growth industry. Post-U.S. election, it should be in line for a further spurt. Yet the arrest of one of its experts by Moscow suggests reputational risk is its real challenge.

Best of Breakingviews 2016: Our readers’ top picks

30 December 2016

You demonstrated a varied, voracious appetite for insight in 2016. The most-clicked columns, podcasts and graphics encompassed the rise of Trump and Brexit Britain to Singapore, Saudi Arabia, negative rates, tech titans and an ethical dilemma for Harvard's business school dean.

Hadas: Russian Revolution won’t be the last

30 December 2016

Soviet communism initially looked like the future, but rapidly became a cruel failure. Its disappearance left big-government democratic capitalism as the sole surviving system. A century later, that hybrid model is now under global threat. It might not last another century.