S&P Upgrades Novosibirsk

May 2 – Standard & Poor’s upgraded Russia’s third largest city, Novosibirsk, from “stable” to “positive,” the credit-rating agency said in a statement issued this Monday.

The ratings are constrained by what the agency regards as the city’s limited financial flexibility and predictability, as well as low economic productivity. However, these constraints are mitigated by a relatively diverse economy, moderate debt, and prudent debt management which is resulting in a favorable debt profile.

As with other Russian local and regional governments, Novosibirsk’s financial predictability and flexibility is severely limited because the federal government regulates tax rates and shares and distributes responsibilities to different layers of the government. Standard & Poor’s still regard Russia’s institutional frameworks as “developing and unbalanced” as defined by the credit-rating agency’s criteria. Read the rest of this entry »

McDonald’s to Expand into Siberia

Mar. 29 – U.S. fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation reportedly has begun to search for franchisees to expand into Siberia.

The fast-food giant intends to open new outlets using the franchise business model that is the basis for 80 percent of its restaurants worldwide, but has not been used in Russia yet, according to RBC Daily. All of the company’s 314 restaurants across 85 Russian cities are operated independently.

Last week, McDonald’s announced plans to open restaurants in the West Siberian cities of Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Barnaul. According to a city official from Tomsk, the company intends to open on its own, and also by granting franchises. Read the rest of this entry »

British Rexam to Erect the First Beverage Can Plant in Siberia

Oct. 21 – Europe’s largest drinks can maker, UK-based Rexam PLC, will build a new beverage can plant in Western Siberia’s Novosibirsk, the city authorities said in a statement.

Located east of the Ural Mountains, Novosibirsk is Russia’s third-largest city, after Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1.4 million. The city industrial complex consists of 214 large and average industrial enterprises, which produce more than two-thirds of all industrial output of the Novosibirsk region. Read the rest of this entry »

Belgium Rezidor to Open Hotel in Novosibirsk

Apr. 25 – Belgium Rezidor Hotel Group, an international hotel operator, increased its presence in Russia by opening a premier business 150-room Park Inn in Novosibirsk. The operator also plans to open up 10 to 20 more hotels across the country, a company press release said.

The first hotel in Siberian Novosibirsk will be developed in cooperation with Regional Hotel Chain (RHC), one of Rezidor’s development partners in Russia.

“We are delighted to have signed the eighth contract with RHC. It further strengthens our common target to open 10 to 20 Park Inn hotels across Russia,” commented Kurt Ritter, CEO of Rezidor. The opening of next Park Inn is planned in Astrakhan for June 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

The Auction House of Russia to Start Operating in Siberia’s Novosibirsk

Mar 28. – The Auction House of the Russian Federation will open a sub-office in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on Wednesday. By the end of the year, the Auction House plans to sell properties worth about US$34.5 billion.

The sub-office will put on the market assets of their clients from several regions of Siberia, including Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Altay, and Altai Republic. Read the rest of this entry »

Novosibirsk Mortgage Credit on a ‘Post-Crisis’ Mend

May 10 – Long term commercial mortgage credit issuing grew two times faster on average in the Novosibirsk region than in the rest Russian Federation, reports the Central Bank.

Over 40,400 commercial mortgages were issued in Russia between January and March 2010 amounting to a sum total of 48.95 billion rubles. Compared with the same period in 2009, the sum total almost doubled, registering a 96.9 percent growth.

According to Central Bank data, from January to March 2010 there were 1,502 mortgage credits totaling a sum of 1.6 billion rubles issued in the Novosibirsk region, which is four times larger than the same period for 2009. Meanwhile this is still low compared to the pre crisis period, 4.46 billion rubles being issued in 2008 during the same time period.

“Advanced growth of crediting in the region relates to local authority measures on stimulating consumer demand,” deputy head of VTB-24 region branch Konstantin Kameshikov told Vedomosti. From February 2009, the regional budget started giving back initial payment under credit, amounting to about 300,000 rubles. Around 850 citizens obtained this kind of support from regional government for the first three months of 2009. Read the rest of this entry »