Several interesting news this week on Russian corporate front.
One of the longer-running deal, the swap of assets between German BASF and Russian Gazprom was finally killed off on foot of sanctions. The deal collapse is one of the first spillovers to Europe from the Ruble crisis and the overall deterioration in Russian markets. Details here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-12-18/gazprom-deal-to-swap-assets-with-basf-ends-as-relations-sour.html. Key quote from the point of macro analysis: "BASF attributed the breakdown in the agreement to “the currently difficult political environment.” “We will continue our joint ventures in Europe and Russia,” the company said in a statement. “The facts clearly show: Europe and Russia need each other also in the future.”"
Russian Duma approved the bill to recapitalise the banks, injecting some USD16.5 billion worth of funding into the banking system. Details: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/19/russia-crisis-banks-capital-idUSL6N0U318520141219?feedType=RSS&feedName=bondsNews.
This, amidst the already rolling contagion from Russian financial services to Europe's: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/18/russia-crisis-raiffeisen-idUSL6N0U23AT20141218 as Ruble devaluations help drive Raiffeisen Bank International's overall capital ratio one percentage point down. Austria has the largest exposure of to Russian banks - see http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/12/19122014-russian-banks-contagion.html.
And for the last bit, here is the latest polling from Russia:
