The Oman Investment Fund buys into Vietnam’s Petrovietnam Insurance.

Organisation will work with US firm on distressed debt project.

EBRD, IFC and CRG Capital aim to raise €200mn for Special Situations Fund.

The financial downturn could lead to some unexpected consequences for sovereign wealth funds, according to a new report.

Credit Suisse has launched its first equities fund dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

Citi’s global transaction services business has been chosen to provide custody to Majid Al Futtaim Trust and both custody and fund administration to funds managed by Majid Al Futtaim Asset Management.

West African oil independent Afren has raised £84.8mn (US$126.3mn) by a placing of 265mn new ordinary shares of 1 penny each in the capital of the company with institutional investors at 32 pence per share.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange is to launch trading in municipal and corporate bonds this year, says the exchange's CEO.

Emirates NBD, one of the largest banking groups in the Middle East, has launched a £100mn ‘Hero Global Football Fund’. The fund plans to identify promising young players from Africa, South America and the Far East in order to develop their talent and then make a profit by selling players’ registrations and other economic benefits, such as image rights, to professional clubs in Europe.

emeafinance has announced the winners of its inaugural Africa banking awards. The awards recognise the best banks throughout Africa, over the last exciting 12 months for the continent.
The awards generated a great response, with banks from all over Africa sending in submissions. emeafinance chose the winners based on key indicators such as market share, key deals, strategy, profitability, return on equity, and cost/income ratio.
You can read a full write-up of the awards here.
The winners are:

Former US president Bill Clinton announced in late September the launch of a new US$100mn company that he claims will be “by far the largest micro-insurance initiative in the world, by several multiples”.

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.