Economics & Strategy – Emerging-Europe Equity Strategy: Third

The Citi quartet under Kingsmill Bond slips one notch to third place; the Moscow-based strategist also pilots the No. 3 team in CEEMEA Equity Strategy. “He is one of the few people who is able to credibly put Russia into the context of the rest of the wider region,” declares one advocate. Noting that between 60 and 70 percent of the Russian economy is attributable to commodities, whose prices have peaked, the crew is advising clients to invest in companies that provide goods and services to Russian shoppers; in banks making loans so consumers can “buy cars and other durable goods,” the team leader says; and in construction and engineering concerns likely to benefit from the government’s infrastructure investments. Bond, who left Citi for Sberbank CIB in April, declined to cite specific stocks. — Paul Sweeney