The main VTB Bank building, centre, in Moscow, Russia. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
The main VTB Bank building, centre, in Moscow, Russia. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo

Russia sanctions strain Qatar link to VTB bond issue



Sanctions on Russia's banks have thrown into question Qatari interest in a bond issue by the Saint Petersburg-based lender VTB Group, the Financial Times reported.
"They had shown an interest before, but now we have no idea," one source told the London newspaper.
Qatar Holdings owns a 2.9 per cent stake in VTB, which is Russia's second-largest bank by market capitalisation.
A consortium of Western banks including Barclays and ING are also debating whether to proceed with a US$1.5 billion loan to VTB, according to Bloomberg News.
VTB was publicly dismissive of the effect of sanctions on their business.
The company described the measures as "politically motivated, unfair, legally dubious and economically damaging for all parties."
"[VTB] has a very strong borrowing record and expertise in various geographies in addition to western markets. We are confident in our ability to raise new funding when necessary."
The Russian government owns 60.9 per cent of VTB group.
Arabian Gulf countries, including the UAE, have sought to increase investment in Russia in recent years. Abu Dhabi's Department of Finance said in September that it was set to invest up to $5bn in Russian infrastructure projects.
In June last year, Mubadala Development formed a joint venture with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, in which each company agreed to invest $1bn in Russian infrastructure.
The total value of UAE investment in Russia has not been finalised, with an unspecified number of infrastructure projects set to be planned over the next five to seven years.
New sanctions were implemented on Tuesday in response to the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
The restrictions, agreed by the EU member states and the US, prevent a number of state-owned Russian banks from issuing bonds or trading stocks on European markets, and prevent US citizens from dealing in debt with a maturity of greater than 90 days or in new equity.
VTB's share price has fallen 0.6 per cent over the past week, after falling 5.6 per cent the week before. The company's share price has fallen 25.3 per cent this year.
The "scenario is not entirely bleak" for VTB Group because "not all funding channels have been blocked for Russian banks, [and] Russian banks [are] less dependent on foreign funding", said Olga Naydenova, an analyst at BCS Financial Group, a brokerage
Visa and MasterCard both stated that they would continue business with VTB, while sanctions do not affect VTB's European subsidiaries. The bank has subsidiaries in Austria, Cyprus and Ireland and retail branches in France and Germany.
VTB also operates an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre.
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
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Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
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SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

ALL THE RESULTS

Bantamweight

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Lightweight

Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.

Catch 74kg

Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.

Strawweight (Female)

Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.

Featherweight

Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.

Lightweight

Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.

Welterweight

Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.

Bantamweight

Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.

Lightweight

Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.

Lightweight

Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.

Welterweight

Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.

Featherweight title bout

Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (11.30pm)

Saturday Freiburg v Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund, Cologne v Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld v Mainz (6.30pm) Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig (9.30pm)

Sunday Werder Bremen v Stuttgart (6.30pm), Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (9pm)

Monday Hoffenheim v Augsburg (11.30pm)

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Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

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Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

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Number of Chinese tourists coming to UAE in 2017 was... 1.3m

Alibaba’s new ‘Tech Town’  in Dubai is worth... $600m

China’s investment in the MIddle East in 2016 was... $29.5bn

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Boost to the UAE economy of 5G connectivity will be... $269bn 

Indika
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The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor

Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000

Engine 3.5L V6

Transmission 10-speed automatic

Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm

Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km

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Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe

Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE

UAE fixtures

Saturday, January 18, v Canada

Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan

Saturday, January 25, v South Africa

UAE squad

Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon

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The bio

Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.

Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.

Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.

Company profile

Name:​ One Good Thing ​

Founders:​ Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke​

Based in:​ Dubai​​ 

Sector:​ e-commerce​

Size: 5​ employees

Stage: ​Looking for seed funding

Investors:​ ​Self-funded and seeking external investors