Cherkizovo and Spanish Grupo Fuertes to Produce Turkey Meat in Tambov

May 16 – Russian meat firm OJSC said on Saturday that it has set up a 100 million euro joint venture with Spanish company Grupo Fuertes to produce turkey meat in the Tambov region south of Moscow.

The Board of Directors of Cherkizovo approved the joint venture between Cherkizovo Group and Grupo Fuertes on May 10, 2012.

As the company says, it is planned that a complex for the production of turkey meat will be built on a plot of five hectares on the First and Staroyurevskom areas of the Tambov region. Read the rest of this entry »

Moscow to Privatize Metro

May 14 – Moscow City Hall is considering privatizing the city’s metro system to further develop the capital’s infrastructure, according to the project titled, “The Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of Moscow until 2025.”

The document, posted on the website of the city’s economic policy and development department, proposes “attracting private investment from outside the [city] budget for metro system development, including by corporatizing the metro system.”

According to the strategy, the Moscow Metro (now a state-own enterprise) would be run by a private-public partnership “while preserving a controlling stake for Moscow.” Read the rest of this entry »

First-Ever Business Angel Week Held in Russia

May 7 – Investors from all over the world came to the first-ever business angel week in Russia, which started in Moscow but is continuing for a week across 25 regions.

Business angels are investors who not only finance entrepreneurial projects at an early stage and readily risk their own money, but they also support the project with their business experience and contacts. Basically, business angels work in innovative sectors. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia Sees Factoring Market Nearly Double in 2011

Apr. 19 – Russia’s factoring market almost doubled last year, according to worldwide industry statistics for 2011 released this week by Factors Chain International (FCI). The total worldwide volume for factoring grew by 22 percent in 2011 compared to 2010.

Russia’s market factoring turnover totaled 21.174 billion euros, with 20.944 billion euros from the domestic market and 230 million euro made internationally. In 2010, Russia’s total market turnover was 12.163 billion euros. Read the rest of this entry »

Sberbank to Buy Austria’s Volksbank

Feb. 16 – OAO Sberbank closed a US$661 million deal to buy the international arm of Austria’s Volksbank International AG (VBI) on Wednesday.

The Volksbank acquisition will serve as a springboard for further expansion in Europe, RIA Novosti quoted Sberbank CEO German Gref as saying in Moscow.

Russia’s biggest lender bought VBI from Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG, which owned 51 percent of VBI, while France’s Banque Populaire Caisse d’Epargne and Germany’s DZ Bank/WGZ Bank own 24.5 percent and Groupe BPCE owns the remaining 24.5 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

Investors Come Back to Russia

Jan. 16 – Russia-focused equity funds attracted US$43 million of inflows in the week to January, 11, equaling about 0.4 percent of the total amount under management, UralSib Financial Corp. said in a report, citing EPFR Global Data.

“This is the first week of positive flows in the last eight,” UralSib analyst Slava Smolyaninov said in a report. Read the rest of this entry »

Sino-Russian ‘Bad Dates’ and Chinese Relations with ‘Abandonment Child’ of Moscow

By Marina Romanova

Sino-Russian series of bad dates
Chinese-American international energy consultant Edward Chow once said that the Russian-Chinese energy relationship isn’t a marriage, but rather “a series of bad dates.” As far as their energy relationship goes – also keeping in mind the two rather extreme types of relationship of ‘honeymoon’ (1950s) and ‘divorce’ (1960s and 1970s) between Beijing and Moscow – the whole Sino-Russian strategic partner can be described with this kind of metaphor.

Chinese businessmen and bureaucrats are playing a part in almost every Russian investment round-table and economic forum. And it wouldn’t be too much to say that almost every presentation by Chinese participants contains some words about Russia’s “investment unattractiveness” as one of the main reasons not to invest in the Russian economy. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran, Russia to Replace Dollar with Rial, Ruble in Trade

Jan. 10 – Iran and Russia have replaced the U.S. dollar with their national currencies in bilateral trade, Iran’s Fars News Agency reports, citing Seyed Reza Sajjadi, Tehran’s Ambassador to Moscow.

Speaking to Fars, Sajjadi said that the proposal for replacing the U.S. dollar was raised by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting June, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov to Run Against Vladimir Putin

Dec. 14 – Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov said on Monday he will run against Vladimir Putin for president next year. Expert opinions on Prokhorov’s decision are divided: some of them believe the New Jersey Nets basketball team owner’s move has been inspired by the Kremlin, while others sees it as his second attempt to come into Russian politics.

Prokhorov, a 46-year-old metals tycoon who is chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia’s largest gold producer, also holds a stake in the aluminum giant RUSAL, and has declared himself a “champion of the middle class.” He has also said he is already working to create a grassroots political party to counter “populist tricks” and promote open dialogue within civil society. Read the rest of this entry »

Political Risk to Rise in Post Electoral Russia

Dec. 12 – Political uncertainty and the prospect of more large protests are adding an extra layer of concern for foreign investors in Russia.

The MICEX Index tumbled 4.7 percent Tuesday after the first gathering of protestors last Monday evening and the transfer of additional Interior Ministry troops to the Russian capital.

Fear hit the market again on Friday as investors sold on the eve of what may be Russia’s largest demonstration in years near the Kremlin on Saturday. The RTS slipped 4.3 percent on Friday, compared with a 2 percent drop for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and little movement in Brent crude prices. The ruble dropped against the dollar and the euro. Read the rest of this entry »

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