St. Petersburg and North-West Region Investment Forum

London. 17th November 2010. RBCC held a half-day conference, The St Petersburg and North-West Region Investment Forum, at the London Stock Exchange, to highlight investment opportunities in the North-West Region of Russia. The conference was opened by RBCC Executive Director, Stephen Dalziel, who also chaired the first session.

Maxim Avrashkov, Managing Partner, Maxima-Consulting & Law, highlighted the significance of St Petersburg and the region as the second business hub to Moscow.  The geographical placement is ideal for companies to set up business there. He was followed by Jon Edwards from the London Stock Exchange, who talked about the resurgence of Russian companies which are to list on the London Stock Exchange over the next 12 months.  Alexey Chichkanov, Chairman of the Committee for Investment and Strategic Projects of Saint-Petersburg, gave a very comprehensive overview of the investment opportunities and development trends in the city, after which Sergey Makarov, Deputy Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Saint-Petersburg Administration spoke about the current state of the legislation of commercial activities in the Russian Federation. The legal theme was continued by Vladimir Kilinkarov, Senior Associate, Maxima Consulting & Law, who looked more specifically at legal aspects of investment and trade activity in the North-West Region of Russia.

The second session was moderated by Trevor Barton, Commercial Director, Equity Trust, and began with Andrey Stepanenko, General Director of The Auction House of the Russian Federation, talking about the sale of pledged property and its investment opportunities in Russia. Alexander Kuznetsov, Advisor to the CEO, Renord-Invest, then addressed the issue of opportunities for private equity investment in the North-West Region of Russia. There followed a fascinating presentation by Andrew Morris-Richardson, Main Board Director, Abacus Lighting, who spoke about the new business Abacus Lighting have just opened in St Petersburg, having been trading with Russia for six years already. Trevor Barton rounded off the session, drawing on his experience of six years spent in St Petersburg.

We would like to thank all of the speakers and delegates who contributed to a lively and useful discussion of the opportunities for business in the North West Region; and also thanks to the London Stock Exchange for making available their wonderful premises.