RUSSIA
MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CENTER (MIBC)
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Providing a snapshot of the business market in Russia, some of the leading lawyers in
Moscow share their insights on trends and developments in the banking and finance,
IPO, M&A and energy sectors over recent months.
Camilla Sutton reports
BANKING AND FINANCE
THE banking and finance sector has picked up recently, with both domestic and international projects being financed. ‘Salans’ Russian banking
and finance work this year has included a major pre-IPO
financing which should sign and disburse in the next
week or so,’ says Timothy Stubbs, a banking and
finance partner at Salans who works out of both London
and Moscow. ‘We are also working on a major IFI CIS
industrial financing.’
‘In 2010 and into the beginning of 2011 the Russian
market saw an increase in the number of project financ-
ings, partly because of the growing activity of Russian
banks,’ explains Maxim Alekseyev from ALRUD.
‘Government (on both federal and local levels) was
involved in financing new projects. At the same time, foreign banks (especially, in the Asia-Pacific region)
launched new export finance projects in and with Russia.’
His firm, ALRUD supported establishing a Russian-Korean
joint venture (a hotel and retail business) based on export
financing provided by a Korean bank.
‘There is certainly a guarded excitement in the market
that there may be significant increased activity this year
in the finance markets generally,’ says Steve Wardlaw, the
partner in charge of Baker Botts’ Moscow office. ‘Banks
(including Export Credit Agencies (ECAs)) are looking to
build up business with new lending, and private equity
