21 Feb 2006 12:16

Interfax holds workshops on equity and debt capital markets

Interfax Business Service, a member of the Interfax Information Services Group, and Thomson Financial have held a series of workshops in Moscow and Almaty to familiarize issuers and investment banks with effective methods of work on the debt and equity capital market.

"The workshops were aimed at familiarizing Russian experts specializing in securing funds and investor relations (IR) with new trends on the world‘s capital markets and the opportunities the strategic partnership agreement between the Interfax Group and Thomson Financial will offer Russian and Kazakh companies," Interfax Business Service General Director Mikhail Matovnikov said.
"During the workshops, we sought to answer the following questions: Why do issuers have to know their investors and maintain dialogue with them? How can potential investors be identified on the debt and stock capital market? What instruments can companies use to cooperate with investors?" Matovnikov said.
The Moscow workshops involved more than 50 experts from various companies and banks, while 30 representatives of issuers and investment banks attended the workshops in Almaty.
Thomson Financial Commercial Director Simon Hastilow, Vice-President of the Debt Capital Market Department Frank Scaturro, Regional Commercial Director Patrick Tobias and Interfax Business Service General Director Mikhail Matovnikov delivered speeches at the workshops.
In late 2005, Thomson Financial, a leading source of information and technological solutions for the global financial community, and Interfax Business Service, an Interfax Information Services Group member providing information and services for the Russian financial market, announced their strategic partnership in Russia to promote the two companies‘ services.
The agreement makes Interfax Business Service the exclusive provider of Thomson Financial‘s cutting-edge information, analytical and consulting services in Russia and the CIS. The move is intended to help the companies enter the world capital market.
The companies are authorized to analyze potential investors of the issuer in question on the international market; to assess the international financial community‘s reaction to various companies; to analyze companies‘ current shareholders, to organize road-shows for institutional investors; and to develop individual sets of instruments to conduct a coordinated IR policy.

*** Interfax Information Services Group provides news and other information products that are essential for decision-makers in politics and business. Since early the 1990s, Interfax has been the main provider of up-to-date news from Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. We are the most frequently quoted source of information on the region. Over the past few years, Interfax has also become a leading provider of political and business news from China and the emerging markets of Central Europe. The Interfax Group produces company news, industry analysis and ratings, cooperating in this field with largest brands of the information industry. Moody‘s Investors Service is the Interfax Group‘s partner in Moody‘s Interfax Rating Agency, which provides indispensable information for banks and investors reaching out to Russia‘s markets. At the end of 2004, the Group set up the Experian-Interfax credit bureau, which is a joint venture with the global leading information solutions company Experian.

*** Thomson Financial, a division of the Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), is the most complete source for integrated information and technology applications in the global financial services industry. Working in partnership with its clients, the company develops individual workflow solutions that answer their specific data and analysis needs. The Thomson Corporation has annual revenues of $1.73 billion and is a leading global provider of integrated information-based solutions to business and professional customers.
Thomson provides value-added information, with software tools and applications that help its customers make better decisions, faster. We serve more than 20 million information users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, financial services, scientific research and healthcare.
The Corporation‘s common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).