Guest post: #Ukraine’s unpalatable choices – capitulate, fight or consolidate – beyondbrics - Blogs - FT.com

Guest post: Ukraine’s unpalatable choices – capitulate, fight or consolidate – beyondbrics - Blogs - FT.com:



"Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the tide on the battlefield has turned against Kiev, with its armed forces and volunteer National Guard on the retreat. Russia’s next move could be to push towards Mariupol to create a land corridor from Russia through the Donbas to occupied Crimea.



Whatever steps Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, takes next it is beyond doubt that two of Europe’s biggest countries are at war.



Ukraine must choose between three options: capitulate, fight or consolidate."



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Abu Dhabi fund ADIA names Tipple as head of external equities | Reuters

Abu Dhabi fund ADIA names Tipple as head of external equities | Reuters:



"Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, has named Brian Tipple as its first global head of external equities. 




Tipple, previously chief investment officer at U.S.-based Key Private Bank, will help to develop and implement strategy for ADIA's external equities department and oversee all externally managed portfolios, a statement from the fund said on Wednesday.



Around 75 percent of ADIA's assets are managed by external fund managers, according to its 2013 annual report."



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Moody’s A3 Credit Rating Gives Sharjah Debut Sukuk Edge

Sharjah is offering investors an enticement that fellow emirate Dubai doesn’t as the sheikhdom gears up for its first Shariah-compliant bond sale this month: a credit rating.

The emirate, which is more than twice the size of New YorkCity, may price the debt to yield 2.5 percent to 3 percent if it’s a five-year issue, according to three fixed-income analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That compares with a yield of about 2.66 percent on non-Islamic notes due 2019 for Dubai, which doesn’t carry a rating.

Sharjah’s A3 rating at Moody’s Investors Service, a grade four levels above junk, widens the pool of investors who can buy the debt, according to Samer Mardini at SJS Markets Ltd. Moody’s cited the emirate’s “strong” fiscal and government-debt position, which may appeal to some money managers in Asia and Europe whose fund rules prevent them from holding non-rated or below-investment-grade debt.

Abu Dhabi’s Waha Raises $575 Million in AerCap Stake Deal

Waha Capital PJSC (WAHA), an Abu Dhabi investment firm, will raise $575 million from a hedging deal with banks including Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and Citigroup Inc. (C) on half its stake in aviation leasing company AerCap Holdings NV. (AER)

Waha has entered the transaction on 14.9 million of its shares in New York-listed AerCap, which locks in the share value at a minimum of $42.39 and a maximum of $61.23, according to a statement posted on Abu Dhabi stock exchange today. The money raised will be used to pay debt and fund future investments, Waha said. AerCap shares closed at $49.17 in New York yesterday.

The deal is a funded collar transaction with Deutsche Bank, Nomura International Plc and Citigroup, according to a separate AerCap statement late yesterday. Under the terms of the deal, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank will borrow 14.9 million AerCap shares and then sell 10.2 million through an underwritten offering, with the remainder sold by the three banks in block or negotiated deals on the New York Stock Exchange.

Russia’s Asia focus could open gas markets for Mideast suppliers

Russian rhetoric in recent days has highlighted its strategic focus on Asia’s energy markets for future growth, which for Middle East natural gas exporters could mean tougher competition there but more opportunity in Europe.

Yesterday, Russia’s energy minister, Alexander Novak, used a closed-door session of energy officials attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing to make pointed comments about Asia’s growth prospects, while also warning that the West’s sanctions could risk world energy security.

“Taking into account Europe’s stagnation and demand saturation in the United States, I can state with certainty that the Asia-Pacific role in the world energy industry will be only increasing,” Mr Novak said, according to Russia’s state news agency, Itar-Tass. Mr Novak noted energy policy in the West was often driven by politics, adding: “Not all are satisfied with Russia’s high status in the world energy industry. Often, in a bid to weaken our positions, these countries act even to the detriment of themselves … The less politicised Asia-Pacific markets are more attractive for us.”

Dubai Islamic Bank rules out controlling stake in Indonesian lender

Dubai Islamic Bank has ruled out seeking a controlling stake in Bank Panin Syariah, and its plans are limited to raising its stake in the Indonesian lender to 40 per cent from 25 per cent now, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Dubai Islamic, the largest Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates, bought 2.42 billion shares in the listed sharia-compliant lender in June, its first foray into Southeast Asia.

“It’s currently at 25 per cent and we want to go up to 40 per cent. That’s where it stops,” chief executive Adnan Chilwan said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Kuala Lumpur, without giving a time frame for when it would raise the stake.

Ukraine on the Brink Offers Bonds No Respite From Slump

Ukraine’s bonds risk extending the world’s third-biggest slump this quarter as the nation’s conflict with Russia escalates amid intensified fighting.

Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Erste Sparinvest KAG said yields aren’t high enough to justify buying even as the rate on Ukraine’s July 2017 dollar notes jumped 382 basis points since Aug. 19 to a three-month high yesterday. The country’s debt lost 8 percent since June, the most after Argentina and Venezuela in Bloomberg’s Dollar Emerging Market Sovereign Bond Index.

Bondholders are steering clear of Ukraine as President Petro Poroshenko said the armed conflict in his country is escalating “close to the point of no return” as Russian troops and tanks enter his country. U.S. President Barack Obama is in Europe to reassure allies threatened by the crisis that has killed 2,600 people and deepened the woes of a country reliant on an International Monetary Fund bailout to repay its debt.

Saudi Arabia’s Largest Bank Said to Plan IPO Next Quarter

National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia’s largest lender by assets, is seeking to sell a 15 percent stake on the Saudi Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The bank submitted plans for the initial public offering to the nation’s Capital Market Authority last week, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The regulator may fast-track the approval so that the share sale can take place before year’s-end, the people said.

The IPO is set be the country’s largest since Saudi Telecom Co. raised 15 billion ($3.92 billion) riyals in 2002, and the first by a Saudi bank since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. NCB could raise about 16 billion riyals, Asim Bukhtiar, head of research at Riyad Capital, said in April.

MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt rises on real estate; Saudi, Dubai pull back | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt rises on real estate; Saudi, Dubai pull back | Reuters:



"Egypt's bourse outperformed an otherwise sluggish region on Tuesday on the back of property firms and other blue chips, while banks dragged down Saudi Arabia after the kingdom's central bank tightened consumer lending regulations.



The Cairo index rose 1.8 percent, its biggest gain in five weeks, after the country's central bank on Monday kept interest rates unchanged, as expected by the market, and said there was upside risk to the inflation outlook.



At its previous meeting on July 17, the central bank had raised benchmark interest rates in a surprise move seen as an attempt to hold down inflation after the government introduced fuel price increases."



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