Dragon Capital Gains Exposure to US investors through an Agreement with Auerbach Grayson of New York
Kyiv, March 14, 2002 – The Kyiv investment bank Dragon Capital has entered into a cooperation agreement with Auerbach Grayson & Company Inc. of New York, a pioneer in opening up emerging markets to U.S. institutional investors. By joining Auerbach Grayson’s network of more than 80 broker partners worldwide, Dragon Capital has become the only investment company in Ukraine that can boast a wide base of U.S. institutional clients.
Dragon’s research will be provided to Auerbach Grayson on an exclusive basis and then distributed to the firm’s U.S. clients. Basically, Auerbach Grayson will act as Dragon’s U.S. sales office, and Dragon, in turn, will be a local representative for the U.S. stockbroker. The agreement is a big step forward in promoting Ukraine’s extraordinary economic achievements over the past two years and its strong potential for continued growth to Western investors, whose interest in Ukraine has been gradually reviving since the 1998 financial crisis in Russia.
“Many important contacts with U.S. institutions have been lost since the Russian meltdown. Therefore, a major push under a widely recognized name is needed in order to bring those investors back to Ukraine,” said Dmytro Tarabakin, Director of Dragon Capital. “We see cooperation with Auerbach Grayson as a unique opportunity for placing our market back on the international investment map.”
Auerbach Grayson’s Managing Director, David S. Grayson, commented: “We are seeing our institutional clients showing renewed interest and have received inquiries on the Ukrainian market. Our relationship with Dragon Capital was quite natural as they are the only market participants truly capable of servicing the needs of foreign investors."
Following 5.8% growth in 2000, Ukraine’s economy expanded by a whopping 9.1% in 2001 and is expected to post robust growth of about 6% this year. Inflation in 2001 was at a record low 6.1%, the national currency has demonstrated spectacular stability for nearly two years, and the central bank’s foreign reserves grew to an all-time high of USD 3 bil. at the end of 2001. Reflecting the country’s outstanding macroeconomic performance, Ukrainian Eurobonds have rallied by over 40% over the past year, outdoing their Russian peers.
As Ukraine continues to take large steps forward, more local companies will be seeking access to international capital markets and, correspondingly, more Western investors will be showing interest in Ukraine’s cheap and undervalued assets. Dragon Capital’s agreement with Auerbach Grayson provides the bridge to connect the two sides and eventually will be instrumental in increasing the Ukrainian stock market’s transparency and pushing up its liquidity.
The agreement with Auerbach Grayson follows Dragon’s similar cooperation deal with Troika Dialog, Russia’s leading investment bank.
About Auerbach Grayson & Company
Established in 1993, Auerbach Grayson & Company provides research, execution and clearance in equities, derivatives and fixed-income instruments. Its broker partners are located on all continents, in countries such as Egypt, Russia, South Africa, Cyprus, China as well as the major capital markets, such as Brazil, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The firm regularly features as one of the leading global brokers in surveys conducted by Nelson Information, a division of Thomson Financial. In the survey for 2000 Auerbach Grayson was ranked 7th in terms of the number of analysts employed and 11th by the number of companies covered.
For more information please contact us at [email protected].