Mediaboss Marketing

16 March 2012

The Jersey office of Walkers, the leading international law firm, has advised on the multi-jurisdictional aspects of the USD1bn merger between Sberbank and Troika Dialog, which will create a Russian 'superbank'.

Troika Dialog has securities trading, investment banking, private wealth and asset management operations in 21 cities across Russia plus offices in the UK, US, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Cyprus. The closure of this deal has created the largest universal banking institution in Russia.

Speaking previously on the closure of the deal, Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank, explained that the merged institution has ambitious targets, including to become a major global player in the area of investment banking.

We are taking the scope of our business to the next level," Gref commented. "The merger will enable us to modernize the Russian financial industry and increase the quality of services we offer to our corporate and private clients. We plan to consolidate and expand our leading positions in investment banking in both Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the next two to three years and intend to become one of the top 15 global players in terms of debt securities, currency, and commodities operations in the next five years. We have ambitious goals: in 2014 we expect to double income from investment banking activity. At the moment we are already working on over 70 investment banking deals.

Walkers provided multi-jurisdictional legal services for this transaction, including acting as Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands counsel. The Walkers team was led by Partner Jack Boldarin who commented:

Our involvement in this deal underscores our successful track record in advising on the market leading, cross-border corporate transactions in the Russia and CIS region.

This deal will play a major role in hastening the modernisation of Russias financial industry and provide a firm footing upon which Sberbank can move to reach its ambitious growth targets in its key business areas, including investment banking.

Russia and CIS expertise is a key part of our offering here in our European based hub in Jersey, an area from where we can deliver time zone sensitive, multi-jurisdictional advice on British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Jersey and Irish law to our international clients.

Sberbank is the largest credit institution in Russia and the CIS, presently accounting for 26% of the aggregate banking assets and 30% of banking capital in the wider region. Sberbank has a total of 20,000 branches across Russia. Sberbank accounts for 47.9% of retail deposits, 31% of consumer loans and 31% of corporate loans in Russia.

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Offshore Aspects Of Russian 'Superbank' Merger

-- Over 250 senior financiers gathered to hear from Professor Chan, Ashley Alder, the Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and Peter Pang, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority

-- Senior representatives from Allianz Global Investors, BlackRock Asset Management, HSBC Hong Kong, PingAn of China Asset Management and Harvest Global Investments as well as the financial regulators of Hong Kong also spoke about the benefits of doing business in Hong Kong

NEW YORK, March 15,2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaking to an audience of over 250 senior financial services executives at the opening of the New York conference, Professor Chan said, "As the world searches for growth, Hong Kong continues to offer unrivalled advantages and opportunities to businesses wanting to seize the Eastern advantage. Hong Kong with its prime location and international connectivity has long been serving as a gateway for businesses into and out of Mainland China.

"As China's premier city for global finance and a tried and trusted testing ground for new ideas throughout China's economic reform, Hong Kong is the natural choice for piloting the liberalisation of the RMB. The three key areas of offshore RMB business that Hong Kong is developing are banking, capital-raising and trade settlement. Our RMB offshore platform is not just for the benefit and convenience of Hong Kong and China. It is designed to benefit everyone who wishes to embrace China's latest development miracle."

Professor K.C. Chan, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the HKSAR Government, was the keynote speaker at today's conference in New York. His speech was followed by two panel discussions among senior business representatives:

Peter Pang, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, who led the panel discussion on the deepening of Hong Kong's renminbi market, said: "Since the launch of RMB banking in Hong Kong in 2004, RMB deposits in Hong Kong have grown to around RMB 576 billion as at the end of January 2012. That is about 1.6 times the amount a year earlier and is testament to the attractiveness of Hong Kong's unique advantages to businesses the world over."

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Professor K.C. Chan, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Invites New York's Financiers to Sample the ...

Halul Offshore secures QR220mn, 8-year ship financing from SMBC Halul Offshore Services Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Milaha (Qatar Navigation), has secured an eight-year $60mn (QR220mn) ship financing from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). The financing was arranged by Milaha Capital, another wholly-owned Milaha subsidiary which provides corporate finance advisory services to the group as part of its mandate. SMBC is acting as mandated lead arranger, facility agent, security agent and hedging bank. The financing agreement was signed by Sheikh Ali bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani, chairman and managing director of Milaha; and Phillippe Devos, CEO of SMBC Dohas QFC Office. The company will continue to expand its fleet capacity and with this facility, we will be in a stronger position to compete with other industry majors, Sheikh Ali said. Highlighting the commitment of SMBC group to supporting the Qatari shipping and offshore industries, Stanislas Roger, global head of shipping at SMBC, said, We look forward to continue working closely with Milaha on the financing of key investment projects. Ismail al-Emadi, executive vice president for offshore at Milaha said, Over the coming years, we intend to expand our offshore services segment in the region and beyond and this facility significantly enhances the ability to execute our strategy. Halul, which has strong capital expenditure plans for the coming years, is planning to acquire several new vessels including diving support vessels, anchor handling tugs, construction vessels and well-head maintenance/wireline support vessels.Halul acquired two vessels in 2010 and three in 2011 and early 2012. It is looking to add two more vessels to its fleet in 2012, a spokesman said.

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Halul Offshore secures QR220mn, 8-year ship financing from SMBC

Overseas investors are snapping up properties in Canada's largest cities, driving up prices and pushing ordinary Canadians out of the housing market, observers say.

Real estate experts call it the "new reality," and the high price paid for a north Toronto bungalow is the latest evidence.

This month, the three-bedroom bungalow, circa the 1960s and without much updating, sold for $421,800 over the asking price, creating a buzz among agents and other buyers.

Located in Willowdale, where similar detached houses typically sell for just short of $900,000, the bungalow at 300 Dudley Ave. was listed at $759,000.

The winning bid of $1,180,800 came from a university student whose parents live in China and own a business in San Francisco. There were four other bids of more than $1 million.

"The initial response was quite vociferous," said Michael Adelson, a Re/Max agent who represented the seller and received several phone calls about the deal after it was done.

"There's a lot of anger among Canadians who earn money here that they've been priced out of the market. There is some degree of anxiety about how people are going to compete with these hyper-inflated prices."

Adelson declined to discuss the specifics of the Willowdale deal, citing client confidentiality.

But CBC business commentator Michael Hlinka called the deal "outrageous and borderline bizarre."

The strong reaction to the price likely stems from how it changes the vision of affordability for average Canadians, he said.

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Offshore bids price Canadians out of housing market

Would-be deep sea miner Chatham Rock Phosphate has secured funding for its 2012 work programme, bringing on board American private investors under a shares-and-options structure that could deliver a 50 percent shareholding to the newcomers.

CRP managing director Chris Castle said the deal will initially give Subsea Investments II a 19.9 percent stake in the NZX-listed company, which is seeking to replace imported phosphate with product mined from the Chatham Rise.

Subsea would need Takeovers Code waivers or approvals to take a larger stake than that, but the options arrangements announced today could theoretically take it to 50 percent of CRP.

CRP shares have not traded today, but have risen 21 percent in the past week to trade most recently at 23 cents. Castle was in Toronto last week and briefed mining industry analysts on the companys progress.

However, plans to list on either the Toronto or Australian stock exchanges in the near future were now on hold, thanks to Subseas involvement, Castle told BusinessDesk.

Its still our intention to do an IPO when market conditions improve, he said, but the pressure was now off as we are now effectively funded for 2012. The project would be progressively de-risked to improve both the strike price and prospect of success for an eventual international IPO.

The company has up to $10 million of environmental, geo-technical and other projects on the books as it moves towards applying for a mining licence later this year and to file an environmental impact assessment under forthcoming legislation covering development of resources in New Zealands Exclusive Economic Zone.

Little is known publicly of Subsea Investments, except that they are a group of US-based private equity investors whom Castle met recently in Florida for due diligence discussions.

Under the arrangements announced today, Subsea is buying 11.4 million CRP shares for 20 cents apiece to raise $2.28 million, and the same number of unlisted three-year options for exercise on a one-for-one basis at 30 cents a share.

Subject to shareholder approval at a special meeting to be held in early April, the agreement will also see Subsea inject another $370,000 for 1.85 million CRP shares, also at 20 cents each, and a convertible loan to advance up to $3.3 million to CRP, with a further 18.3 million shares options offered for conversion at 20 cents a share, matching the second tranche of shares issued and the value of the loan.

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Chatham Rock secures 2012 funding, offshore listing delayed