Eastern Europe

Financial News

Ukraine Inflation Rate, Europe's Highest, Fell For Third Month in October Ukraine’s inflation rate, Europe’s highest, slowed in October for a third month as the country’s recession blunted price pressures, which may allow the central bank to resume reducing interest rates.

Goldman May End Bid to Underwrite Rusal IPO on Deripaska Concern, WSJ Says Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may have abandoned efforts to get one of the two main underwriting roles in the initial public offering of United Co. Rusal out of concerns about Oleg Deripaska, the company’s founder, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Deutsche Boerse Places Only Bid for Control of Warsaw Bourse, Parkiet Says Deutsche Boerse AG was the only stock market operator to place a final bid for a controlling stake in the state-owned Warsaw Stock Exchange by yesterday’s deadline, Parkiet reported, without saying where it got the information.

Bioton, Polish Insulin Maker, Appoints Eli Lilly Alumnus Ziegert as CEO Bioton SA, Poland’s biggest insulin maker, appointed Slawomir Ziegert as its chief executive officer after Janusz Guy resigned from the post citing personal reasons.

Latvia Spares Currency, Devalues Economy to Save Path to Euro Membership Electronics and clothing stores at the Galerijas Centrs in Riga’s old town fly banners offering discounts of as much as 50 percent.

PGE Shares Soar on First Day of Trading After 2009's Biggest European IPO PGE SA, the Polish power provider that raised 5.97 billion zloty ($2.1 billion) in Europe’s largest initial public offering this year, jumped 16 percent on its first day of trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Estonia May Sell Third of Eesti Energia to Fund Oil-Shale Factory Upgrades Estonia’s government may sell as much as a third of Eesti Energia AS, the biggest Baltic utility, to help fund an estimated 20 billion krooni ($1.9 billion) of planned investments including oil-shale power plant upgrades.

Russian Bonds Rise to Two-Week High on Speculation Government to Swap Debt Russian bonds rose to the highest level in more than two weeks on speculation the government will offer new bonds in exchange for exiting debt.

IMF Says It Will Wait for Serbian Budget Draft Before Next Loan Tranche The International Monetary Fund won’t release the next installment of Serbia’s bailout loan until the government presents its 2010 budget draft to lawmakers, said Bogdan Lissovolik, the IMF representative to the Balkan nation.

Bank Millennium of Poland Plans $350 Million Share Sale After Posting Loss Bank Millennium SA, the Polish unit of Banco Comercial Portugues SA, plans to raise 1 billion zloty ($350 million) in a share sale after reporting an unexpected third-quarter loss. The stock fell as much as 15 percent.

General News

Czech Premier Fischer Rules Himself Out of Running as Next EU Commissioner Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer ruled himself out for the post of European Union commissioner, saying he wants to complete his caretaker role as head of government until elections next year.

Medvedev Says Europe Relations Could Have Been Different After Berlin Wall President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia’s relations with the rest of Europe could have developed differently in the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Russia Says Poland May Have `Cold War Reflexes' After U.S. Troop Request A reported Polish call for the deployment of U.S. troops in the country as a shield against Russian aggression, if confirmed, would indicate that “Cold War reflexes are still alive in Warsaw,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said today.

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