Russia Trade & Export Finance Forum

Event Review

Over 90 delegates gathered in wintery St. Petersburg for this inaugural Exporta event. 

The event was supported by sponsors HSBC, Mizuho, VTB, Clyde & Co., Arthur J. Gallagher and Nationwide Equipment and speakers from Element Leasing, Global Insight, Fitch Ratings, ING Bank, EBRD, DRUM Risk Management, Stemcor, Estar Holding and EuroChem to name a few.

The topics covered current trends and emerging profile, the development of trade finance, leasing, legal advice, private market risk insurance, risk mitigation and concluded with three corporate viewpoints. 

With such a fantastic backing of experts and a topical programme, the two-day conference attracted locals and international participants who benefited from networking receptions and breaks throughout.

Description

Sponsored by HSBC, VTB, Mizuho, Arthur J. Gallagher, Clyde & Co and NWE, Exporta's Russia Trade & Export Finance Forum is attracting great interest from our market.

Download the brochure today and review the fantastic line-up of speakers from Estar Holding, EuroChem Russia, Stemcor Trade Finance, Deutsche Bank, ING, DRUM Risk Management, EBRD and many more.  

The conference brochure is available in both Russian and English with the conference itself also being simultaneously translated.

Register early to take advantage of an early booking disount available until September 14, 2007. 

Its easy to register - online at www.gtreview.com, via telephone +44 (0) 20 8673 9666 or fax +44 (0) 20 8673 8662 or email events@exportagroup.com

Brochure

Programme

Day one - Tuesday, October 30, 2007

08.30  Registration

09.00  Chairman's opening remarks
John MacNamara, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank 

09.10  The Bureaucrat and the businessman: The informal influence of the state administration over the conduct of business in Russia
Natalia Leshchenko, Russia/CIS Analyst, Global Insight

• Importance of informal practices in state-business relations
• Principles of informal co-operation between bureaucrats and businessmen

09.50  Russian banking sector: current trends and outlook
Alexander Danilov, Director, Financial Institutions, Fitch Ratings

• Banking sector structure
• Asset quality
• Funding and capital
• Rating drivers
• Sector outlook for the future

10.30  Networking break

11.00  Russia vs. Kazakhstan
Karin Gregor, Director, Head of Metals, Structured Metals and Energy Finance, ING Bank

• Who has the right formula?
• Who is the better risk?

Financing trade in the region

11.40 Russia's emerging profile in the structured trade finance market - new pressures, new solutions
Jeremy Burke, Group Head Financial Institutions, Trade Finance and
Peter Litherland, Group Head Commodity and Structured Trade Finance, EMEA, Mizuho Corporate Bank

• Mizuho and its experiences in the Russian and FSU markets
• Case study utilizing JBIC support for a major Russian bank
• Identification of trends in recent financings
• Identification of the pressures trends may be placing on the banking market

12.20 Lunch

14.00 Development of Trade Finance in Russia
Rudolf Putz, Senior Banker, Head of Trade Facilitation, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD)

• Recent trends
• Financing in local currency
• Factoring
• Co-financing with mulitlaterals, banks, insurance underwriters and investment funds

14.40 Trade and financing techniques in Russia
Geoff Sharp, Managing Director, Forfaiting, HSBC

• Trade finance vs export credits
• Forfaiting portfolio management
• Market developments and pricing trends

15.20  Leasing for investors: making the mechanism work for investors and Russian corporates
James Gorham, Chief Executive Officer, Element Leasing

• Investors
• types of investors/investments
• investment vehicles
• Russian corporates
• minimising cost of funding and transaction costs
• maximising tax advantages
• flexibility of the credit risk vs asset risk tradeoff

16.00  Networking break

16.30  Recovery case study: the Yukos US$1 billion pre-export finance
John MacNamara, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank

• What happened to the 2003 Yukos preexport finance?
• How did banks respond?
• How did a classic 'performance risk finance structure actually perform under stress?

Legal and documentary issues

17.10  Lost in translation? Adapting legally sound trade finance techniques for the Russian market
Robert Parson, Partner and Anne-Christin Herold, Senior Associate, Clyde & Co LLP

• Getting finance into the market and targeting it
• Understanding the role of local security and contractual relationships in          international finance
• Corporate structure and regulation – taking care
• Take away time – getting the money back out again

17.50 Close of day one, followed by networking reception

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 – Day Two

Chairman:       
Bernard Zonneveld, Managing Director, ING Bank

Insurance and risk

09.00  Private market coverage for Russia
Kit Brownlees, Managing Director, Political, Project and Credit Risks, Arthur J. Gallagher

• Private market
• Deals
• Inwards and outwards
• Future trends

09.40  Russia: worth bearing the risk?
Christopher Green, Senior Economist, VTB Bank Europe plc

• Economic risks - international and domestic
• Financial market risks - international and domestic
• Political risks

10.20  Mitigating operational risk: Hands on transaction management
Alexander Rottenburg, Chairman, DRUM Risk Management

• Due diligence
• Managing the transaction: collateral management on the ground – the reality
• Case study                                   

Panel Discussion

11.00 Panel discussion:  Russian risk
Is Russian risk correctly priced? How safe is your Russian investment? Memories of 1998 – can it happen again?
Moderator: John MacNamara, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank
David Maule, Director, Political, Project and Credit Risks, Arthur J. Gallagher
Bernard Zonneveld, Managing Director, ING Bank
Evgeny Torkhov, Head of Corporate Finance, Eurochem Russia
Boris Zemlyanukhin, Deputy Director, Financial Institutions Insurance, ROSNO

11.30  Networking break

Corporate views

12.00  Steel capital equipment financing in Russia: solutions a trading company can provide
Christopher Bachofen, Director, Structured and Project Finance, Stemcor Trade Finance Limited

12.30 Eurochem: Financing growth opportunities
Evgeny Torkhov, Head of Corporate Finance, Eurochem Russia

• Strategy and tactics in choosing financing instruments
• Challenges for further growth
• Capital structure and shareholders’ interests

13.00 Tendencies in the development of Russian metallurgical companies: development of metallurgical company Estar
Sergey Gora, Chief Financial Officer, Estar Holding

• The foundation of the Estar group in 2005
• Development of the group during 2006-07
• Financial strategy and trade and export structured facilities and their role in the development of the group

13.30 Chairman’s concluding comments and close of the conference, followed by lunch

Venue

Sponsors

Sponsorship opportunities including exhibition stands are available for this event.

To become a sponsor, please contact Tom Whitehead, Head of Sponsorship Sales at twhitehead@exportagroup.com.

Exporta's events have a global reputation, renowned for superb networking opportunities and educational presentations by high-profile speakers.

Time after time our events attract the leading companies in our market as sponsors.

See below for a full list of our Event Sponsors, Institutional Partners and Media Partners and click on the logo to visit their web site. 

Delegate Packs