Baltic lender Swedbank plans to raise SEK15bn (US$2bn) through its second rights issue in eight months.

PepsiCo, one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, has announced plans to invest US$1bn in Russia over three years, together with its partner The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG). The investment will bring the cumulative investment in Russia by PepsiCo and PBG to over US$4bn.

Actis, an emerging markets private equity investor, has executed an agreement to invest US$244mn to acquire shares in Commercial International Bank, a leading bank in Egypt.

Qatar National Bank-Syria, a private Syrian-Qatari bank, has announced the launch of 34% of its total equity in an initial public offering (IPO) which will raise US$37.15mn.

Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia (MSSA) has launched equity trading on the KSA stock exchange, Tadawul, on June 22. This new capability enables the firm and its clients to trade cash equities and enables MSSA to service international clients via swap contracts.

Vodacom, the South African mobile phone company, overcame last-minute political obstacles to successfully raise US$3.5bn in its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on May 18. The company also sold a 15% stake to Vodafone, giving the UK mobile company a 65% controlling stake in the firm.

Kazkommertsbank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, announced on May 15 that it has sold 204,328,177 common shares through a capital increase that began on March 31 and a related placing.

US banks are scrambling to raise billions of dollars in equity, in order to pay back funds they have borrowed from the US government. Investors, meanwhile, have regained faith in financial stocks.

The Qatari unit of the Vodafone group will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April. The IPO will see 40% of the company’s authorised share capital offered to investors between 12 April and 26 April 2009, before its listing on the Doha Securities Market (DSM) in Qatar.

Bemo Saudi Fransi Finance (BSFF) has been appointed as lead manager in Al Baraka Bank-Syria’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) on the recently opened Damascus Securities Exchange.

In late October, the government of Kazakhstan offered to buy 25% stakes in the top four banks in the country, for a total of over US$5bn, through its investment vehicle, Kazina. The deal still needs to be approved by the banks’ shareholders.

When I step out of the lift to go into the office of Hermitage Capital in Soho, London, two burly security guards rise to block my way. For a second, I wonder if I have accidentally ambled into a gangster film, and that Hermitage has been forced to “go to the mattresses”, as they say in Mafia movies.