Russian IPOs – Review of Some Events of Week 29th, 2007

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 22, 2007

Russian IPOs – Review of Some Events of Week 29th, 2007

R Is for Russia (and Returns) – The Street.com

Interested in invest in Russia? Here what The Street.com offers in terms of advice. “Brazil, Russia, India and China are the four countries expected to outpace their emerging market peers over the next several decades …. Of the BRIC countries, Russia is probably the most volatile market and the one that has been on the radar of mainstream American investors the longest.” I think it is one of the most reasonable overview of ETF options that I have read recently.

Energy Commodity Exchange in Russia Under Way

This week a meeting at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade discussed the issues regarding international commodity exchange that is scheduled to open in St. Petersburg in August. The idea is to start trading in Russian oil domestically. Russia is currently selling its oil on the New York exchange. According to Minister German Gref the exchange may start selling all energy products in 2009-2010 while trade in petrochemicals is to be launched this autumn. Oil trade may begin by the end of next year. The meeting resolved that by the end of July the list of potential participants of the exchange will be closed. Officially the establishment of the commodity exchange was approved and all parties basically agreed to start practical activities to register the venture. Besides New York Mercantile Exchange (NYSE:NMX) and its oil advisor Expertica Limited (Gibraltar) the participants include: the Government of St.Petersburg, Gazprom, Rosneft, TATNEFT, TNK-BP, Lukoil and Transneft.

Russian Vodka Going to American Hands?

Russian alcohol producing business is attractive for investors. However, this week we had seen the first one that is coming to Russian with intentions to produce vodka here. Central European Distribution Corporation (Nasdaq: CEDC) announced this week it has signed a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire a significant majority interest in Parliament group company holding various alcoholic beverage production and distribution assets which include the number one selling premium vodka brand in Russia, Parliament Vodka.

Politics & Business – Different Ways

Despite of all political rhetoric, business is going on and here are the few examples:

Great Circle Capital, an emerging markets private equity fund based in Stamford, Ct., is investing $21.1 million in Moscow-based STS Logistics, a leading Russian freight forwarding, warehousing, and customs services provider.

AIG Interros Russia Century Fund, a private equity fund established by the international financial corporation AIG and the Russian holding company Interros this week closed the deal of buying of a 10% stake in the auto dealer Incom-Auto. According to the experts this will help the company in its preparations for the scheduled IPO.

London & Regional Properties, the British real estate developer plans to spend at least $1 billion on projects in Russia in the next 12 months. The investments will include a chain of hotels that the company is building for Hilton Hotels, Geovanis said Tuesday. Also London & Regional is constructing a hotel in St. Petersburg that's due to open in September. Hilton Hotels Corporation has signed up three developers to open hotels in Russia, the UK, the Caribbean and Central America over the next five year. Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT) has teamed up in Russia with London & Regional Properties to open 25 hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg and key regional cities. The first hotel is expected to be in the centre of Novosibirsk and in Moscow we await opening of the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya very soon.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), the world's largest producer of computer games, announced this week that it is opening a branch in Russia. The company hopes to increase Electronic Arts' share of the Russian market to 20% in the next four years