Feb. 3 – Russia is to become Europe’s second largest retail market with sales in 2011 amounting to US$621 billion, according to Euromonitor International, and may become the largest market in Europe by 2013-2014.
Retail sales in Russia rose 9.5 percent year-on-year in December, compared to 2.6 percent growth in the UK. Read the rest of this entry »
Dec. 23 – Toyota Motor Corp. plans to open new authorized dealer’s centers in the Far East Russian cities of Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Nakhodka by summer of 2012, President of Toyota Motors Russia Takeshi Isogaya said in a statement released to the press.
Dealer’s centers would be established in concentrated areas within the cities already receiving Japanese investment. Read the rest of this entry »
Free app brings Russia Briefing to your fingertips
Dec. 16 – The brand new Asia Briefing mobile application brings the latest business news and foreign investment insights from Russia Briefing web site right to your fingertips.
The free app integrates with legal and tax regulatory updates from Dezan Shira & Associates, along with China, India, Vietnam, Mongolia Briefings, and 2point6billon.com (for emerging Asia). With hourly updates, it helps you stay on top of Asia’s dynamic investment environments. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 16 – The Federal Service for State Registration, Cadaster and Cartography, known as Rosregister, will launch a new online service providing information about each real estate deal that has been made in every Russian region.
Information about all registered real estate deals since 1999 will also be published in the new portal. For example, by some estimates, 17 million real estate deals were made in Russia last year. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 9 – Russia is preparing for a historic return to deep space with the launch of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft on Wednesday on an ambitious and risky three-year US$163 million mission to bring back a soil sample from the Red Planet.
The launch is scheduled for 12:16 a.m. Moscow time this Wednesday (20.16 GMT Tuesday), Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) reports. The Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Grunt mission is set to launch from the Baikonur Space Center located in Kazakhstan. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 8 – The Russian gas giant Gazprom opened an office in Rio de Janeiro last week, while another Russian oil producer TNK-BP announced an agreement to buy 45 percent of the Solimoes Basin project for US$1 billion from the Brazilian HRT Participacoes em Petroleo.
TNK-BP and HRT Participacoes em Petroleo will jointly produce oil and gas from fields near the Amazon, with first output expected next year.
“The discovery of major hydrocarbon deposits in Latin America and the high growth rates of natural gas consumption there provide for an effective development of partnership relations,” The Moscow Times reported a Gazprom official as saying. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 4 – Russia and South Korea are teaming up to develop a tourism hub in the mountainous North Caucasus region and Korean investors have signed on to contribute US$1 billion towards the US$30 billion project.
The state-run OJSC Northern Caucasus Resorts Company (NCRC) signed a joint venture agreement with Korean Western Power Co. (KOWEPO) and CHT Korea within the framework of the 2nd Russia-Korea Dialog International Forum in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
The joint venture will produce and provide energy in the Northern Caucasus. The first stage will see five coal-fired power plants built in energy-deficient regions, with one in Sochi’s Krasnodar region, host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 3 – Changi Airports International (CAI), Basic Element Group, and LLC Sberbank Investments (a subsidiary of state lender Sberbank), have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture to invest in and develop airports in Russia.
CAI, the company that operates Singapore’s main airport, will hold 30 percent, Basic Element will hold a controlling stake of 50 percent plus one share, and LLC Sberbank Investments will hold 20 percent minus one share in the joint venture.
Basic Element, controlled by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, currently owns a cluster of airports in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, including the cities of Sochi, Anapa, Gelendzhik and Krasnodar, which is also the home hub of Basic Element-controlled Kuban Airlines. The total passenger traffic of the cluster is expected to exceed 5 million passengers annually in 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov. 1 – Walt Disney Co., owner of ABC television, has agreed to buy a 49 percent stake in Russia’s Seven TV network owned by United TV Holdings and will rename it the Disney Channel. The deal was announced at the meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President and CEO of Walt Disney Co. Robert Iger.
“International expansion is a key strategic priority for our company and Disney Channel has proven to be invaluable in building the Disney brand around the world,” Robert Iger said in a statement. Read the rest of this entry »
Dezan Shira & Associates provide a range of services for companies looking to undertake foreign direct investment into Russia and Asia. These include corporate establishment, accounting, tax, payroll, audit and due diligence. To learn more about our practice, and our partner firm in Moscow and St.Petersburg, please contact us at russia@dezshira.com. Download our corporate brochure or visit at us www.dezshira.com.
