Business Watch
In the run up to Christmas last year many people missed an article in City AM authored by Oleg Deripaska. In the London business newspaper Deripaska, chairman of Basic Element, president of En+ and chief executive of UC RUSAL, blasted the results of a recent Economic Intelligence Unit survey of 200 international senior executives. Less than less than 15 per cent would view merging or being acquired by a Russian partner as a positive development. They would prefer to deal with firms from any other Bric economy over Russia. The same survey highlighted the continued mistrust and lack of confidence about management attributes, and the abilities of Russian companies in general.
So, against the background of the global stagnation, foreign investments continue to flow into emerging markets, including Russia, in search of the best payback.
Strategy Quarterly. September 2012
Russia has become something of a bipolar investment market. On one hand, there is the side of Russia than mandates a higher risk premium to that of EM peers. It is the Russia that provides the regular stream of negative international headlines and it is the portion of the stock market mainly perceived to be vulnerable to a global economic slowdown. On the other hand, Russia is quietly going about its business. It enjoys an expanding domestic economic base, a fast-growing consumer story and a stable economy.
The Corporate and Investment Business (CIB) of Sberbank and Troika Dialog, Russia’s largest universal banking group, has launched its London Russia investment conference – “Russia: The Inside Track” – taking place on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Attract as much as possible foreign investment into Russia in the developing global crisis. Such has been the task set by Prime Minister Medvedev for his government. He is suggesting that Russian legislation should be amended to simplify access for foreign investment into strategic sectors. Another important thing to be done is the elimination of obstructions for investors in non-strategic companies.
International investors from the BGF Emerging Europe Fund, which is operated by BlackRock, estimated Russian assets as "above market". US investment fund BlackRock, which manages $ 3.3 trillion, is planning to significantly change its portfolio in favour of Russian assets. In the future, the fund intends to invest in a number of Russian companies.