Alexander Knaster Quotes

101 Alexander Knaster Quotes

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[In June 2002 on BP agreeing in April 2002 to increase its stake in Russian oil company Sidanco from 10% to 25%.] BP's participation in Sidanco will help to increase the value of the company. BP under John Browne is seen as a visionary company, and its participation in Sidanco will make people sit up and notice the Russian oil industry. I am sure it will act as a catalyst for further acquisitions.
Alexander Knaster

[In July 2002 on hiring Bernard Sucker as head of Alfa Asset Management.] I am delighted that we have been able to recruit one of the most respected and accomplished professionals in the Russian securities market. Bernie's appointment underlines Alfa Bank's commitment to securing a dominant competitive position in Russia's growing market for money management services.
Alexander Knaster

[In November 2002 on being the first private Russian bank to return to the international bond markets since 1998.] We are truly pleased with the result of our comeback to the Eurobond market, having achieved all our objectives in terms of maturity, size and price.
Alexander Knaster

[In November 2002 on using two-thirds of the bond issue for its long term lending business and the remainder for infrastructure projects and to develop it’s branch network across Russia.] In Russia at present there is no long term lending, and companies struggle to get tenors of more than one year.
Alexander Knaster

[In November 2002] We did not have to pay a new issue premium as the first private Russian bank to issue since the crisis, but we felt slightly penalised for following Gazprom and TNK to market. Both companies sold bonds at a rate that was higher than it should have been.
Alexander Knaster

[In 2003] The industrial groups in different sectors are now buying assets in different sectors, such as chemical, pulp, timber or agriculture, and pulling together something that can reach critical mass or take advantage of the economies of scale. It remains to be proved if these groups will add value or not but they are doing the basic things - putting in decent management and imposing some financial discipline.
Alexander Knaster

[In April 2003 on the TNK-BP joint venture.] 50-50 is the only way a transaction like this could be done" since western companies are reluctant to take minority stakes for fear of shareholders' rights risks, and natural resources producers are unlikely to get government agreement to sell majority stakes abroad.
Alexander Knaster

[In September 2007 on the Pamplona Capital Partners II fund.] We have delivered outstanding returns with our first Private Equity fund, and our second fund will continue to stick to its value oriented strategy. Together with our products in the fund of funds and hedge fund space, this fund offers a broader range of exciting investment opportunities to Pamplona’s investors including controlling stakes in private and public European companies.
Alexander Knaster

[In November 2007] The real estate and infrastructure fund of funds is the second niche fund of hedge funds product to be offered by Pamplona. As with the Emerging Market Fund of Funds, Pamplona REIF offers investors the ability to gain exposure to strong global trends and leverages off our internal experience and expertise.
Alexander Knaster

[June 2008] The liquidity crisis has created real opportunities for those with a stable capital base and a top quality credit team. We are delighted to welcome Yves [Leysen] and his colleagues to Pamplona. We could not have hoped for a better qualified or more experienced group, led by Yves with twenty years of fixed income and derivative experience and a supporting team of six professionals, many of whom have worked together over the past seven years.
Alexander Knaster



[In February 2013] The obvious difference between the problems in Europe and the US is the European Union and the Eurozone in particular is a monetary union. And it’s very tricky to maintain a monetary union without a fiscal union and a social union. A union of social policies. So in the US where the fiscal and social policies are the same – you’ve got retirement age, you’ve got work week, you’ve got labour laws, federal laws prevail. And also you have the central bank and the ministry of finance where the borrowing and the money printing machines are somewhat linked. In Europe the problem you have is, you’ve got countries with their own budgets, and they borrow money separately but they can’t print it separately. They have to go to ECB for the printing press and then the German’s say ‘You know, why should support funding Greeks or French when their work week is half of ours and their retirement age is 20 percent less’ and so on. So it creates a lot of tensions because the union is not complete.
Alexander Knaster

[In February 2013] The fundamental problem that they’re all facing whether it’s European countries or the US is budget deficits. I think the US deficit is the same or worse than many Europen countries, the debt level is the same if not worse but because US is bigger it has on balance more innovation and it’s got more importantly an unrestricted – especially in the current administration printing press. It can get over the hurdles and make things look like they’re better -when fundamentally they’re not really that much better. So in the short-term I would say they’re better, in the long-term the problems that Europe is having have become more acute and when the problems are more acute they – let’s say, require more attention. And because of that there’s maybe some probability of them getting fixed. I don’t see anything happening in the US that will fix the problems.
Alexander Knaster

[In February 2013] Longer term I’m not sure I’m much more optimistic about the US than Europe. They just have different kinds of problems but of a similar nature.
Alexander Knaster

[In February 2013] If you look at the public debt which is the government debt of 75 percent of GDP. But then you add on the state debt and social security and off balance sheet numbers you get well over 100 percent of GDP. And the budget deficit is running at 8 percent of GDP. So the fundamental problems are still there. And there’s no real movement to cut entitlements, where in Europe in many places there is already because of the crisis.
Alexander Knaster

[In February 2013] High taxes are definitely bad, especially for those who are not in real industries. But I look at the Nordic side and they have very high tax rates but they have a lot of innovation and a lot of start-ups. So I am not sure there is a direct correlation, I think in France maybe – they all want to move to the South of France. I don’t know, maybe it’s a cultural issue. But in the Nordic states the tax rates are outrageous and there’s a lot of innovation coming out of there.
Alexander Knaster

[In February 2013] Definitely I would say the problems in Europe are much more acute than the problems in the US. The banks for example are way behind the US banks in recovery and willingness to lend and their approach to bad debts and dealing with their concern.
Alexander Knaster

[In February 2013] In the US you have a number of areas, for example one area where regulation plays an important role is innovation and energy – the shale gas, the shale oil. In the US there’s just a huge booming market creating thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of jobs. In Europe all the regulations, all the different bureaucrats analysing, looking at it, cannot populate support. It’s not moving anywhere, even though the reserves are here just as well. So I think Europe will be much slower to recover and therefore much slower in job creation.
Alexander Knaster

Caring for others, readiness to help the less fortunate and willingness to support those in need have always been – and remain today – basic tenets of Judaism. For centuries, Jewish history and culture have challenged each of us to do good deeds, to strive for success and to improve the lot of others.
Alexander Knaster

The Jewish people have brought the abundance of genius and talent to the world. That community, that talent and that genius must not be permitted to fade away. The Genesis Philanthropy Group is dedicated to preventing our culture from declining into oblivion, and to providing support and help to those who share our values, principles and goals.
Alexander Knaster

[In 1983] You have to decide if your log is good enough. That’s an expensive decision.
Alexander Knaster



[In September 2007] Our second fund will continue to stick to its value oriented strategy.
Alexander Knaster



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