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May 9th, 2008
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April 9th, 2008 | Archives

Freeing up some space
Push to accelerate end of rent control could stabilize housing investments

BRIEFS


KAZAKH The PPF Group is finalizing the acquisition of a bank in Kazakhstan, the weekly Euro reported April 7. Kazakhstan would be the fourth former Soviet country where PPF would hold a banking license, joining Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. PPF’s consumer lending venture, Home Credit, is already active on the Kazakh market. The deal should be completed by the end of April.

PENSIONS Yields from pension funds in 2007 were the lowest in history, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported April 4. The average yield for pension funds was between 2.5 percent and 3 percent last year, falling below 3 percent for the first time since pension funds were established in 1995. From 1997 to 2006, the average yield was 6.2 percent. The worldwide fall in stock prices largely accounted for the slowdown.
CROWN Efforts by the power utility ČEZ to hedge against the fall of the euro to the crown have helped accelerate the latter’s rise, E15 reported April 3. ČEZ sells a major part of its electricity in euros and made a large investment late last year to secure future exchange rates. Such hedging, by ČEZ and other Czech companies, has contributed to the crown’s increase, confirmed the Czech National Bank.
RESULTS Raiffeisenbank recorded a profit of 780 million Kč ($49 million) in 2007, while eBanka pulled in 231 million Kč last year, the banks announced April 2. The long-awaited merger between the two banks, which will operate under the Raiffeisenbank name, should be completed by July.

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