Russia Briefing Now Accessible in Mobile App

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 »

Russia to Attract More Foreign Investment

Sept. 20 – Foreign investors are optimistic about Russia’s future attractiveness, according to Ernst & Young’s first Russia Attractiveness Survey published on the company’s web site.

A total of 75 percent of international business leaders interviewed by Ernst & Young said Russia had an attractive domestic market, with about one-third of them calling it “very attractive,” the consulting company said in the survey. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Companies Continue to Expand Abroad

May 17 – Russia’s third biggest mobile phone company VimpelCom has agreed to a US$420 million deal to buy New Telephone Company (NTC) from South Korea’s KT Corp and Summit Telecom Global Management, Sumitomo Corporation’s subsidiary.

VimpelCom said it planned to close the 90 percent acquisition within four weeks. After the acquisition, the company is planning on launching a mandatory buyout offer according to Russian law to purchase the remaining 10 percent of the NTC shares. The completion of the deal is expected in the third quarter of 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

Internet Access Costs to Decline in Russia

Apr. 26 – The cost for yearly Internet access in Russia has fallen between 30 percent and 60 percent, according to a survey from the country’s leading Internet firm Yandex.

The Ural Federal District saw the lowest prices at around US$5.7 per 1 Mbit/s, while the most expensive access area for a network has been registered in the Russian Far East at around US$32.2 per 1 Mbit/s. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia 77th in Global ICT Report

Apr. 13 – Russia has moved up three positions this year to 77th overall with improvements across the board, according to The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, Transformations 2.0, released yesterday by the World Economic Forum.

The report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations. Read the rest of this entry »

Turkmenistan to Shut Down Russian Mobile Service Provider

Dec. 27 – Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russia’s largest mobile operator, faces US$585 million of lost profit from MTS Turkmenistan operations in the next five years after the government ordered it to end subscriber contracts and dismantle 90 percent of its network, CEO Mikhail Shamolin said last week.

On December 15, MTS received special notice from the Ministry of Communications of Turkmenistan. The notice informed the company of a decision to suspend licenses held by Barash Communications Technologies, Inc., MTS’ wholly-owned subsidiary in Turkmenistan, for a period of one month starting from December 21, 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Legal Precedent Complicates Foreign Investment in Strategic Sectors

Jul. 1 – A court decision based on the law on foreign investments for strategic Russian companies may essentially complicate investor access to the market.

The Commercial Court of Moscow City announced its decision on the Megafon cellular operator case on Tuesday; invalidating all positions of the agreement on establishing joint venture in which Russian Alpha Group and Stockholm-based TeliaSonera assumed to bring their Megafon shares, Kommersant Daily reports. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Judicial Loophole May Hamper Foreign Transactions

Apr. 2 – Any deal to buy a strategic enterprise by a Russian company that has foreign daughter companies may be declared null and void. Blame the broad interpretation by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and the courts for their elastic notion of what constitutes a group of persons. Even major Gazprom deals could be contested.

In April 2008, a law on foreign investment in strategic sectors of Russia’s economy entered into force. It applies to foreign investors and groups of persons who seek to buy shares in Russian companies operating in 42 strategic sectors including the oil industry, telecommunications, defense, space industry, and so on.

If you follow the law scrupulously, even domestic companies that have foreign subsidiaries, such as offshore, could be considered a group of persons. It turns out that any deals over they have made over the last two years should have been done with consent of permission from the government commission or else be declared null and void. Read the rest of this entry »

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