Litsa (Moscow) May 12, 2004

RUSSIAN LEADERS HEADED TO SWITZERLAND TO HOLD "SERIOUS TALKS"

Russian business elite headed to Davos to attend the international investment conference organized by RIA RosBusinessConsulting. State officials disclosed government plans for the next 4 years. Major participants of the meeting, namely Russian issuers and foreign investors, listened to them attentively and weighed the prospects of their cooperation. The "Russia's investment outlooks for a new presidential term" conference is the ninth conference organized by the company. In accordance with tradition, created over the past 10 years, managers of the largest western and Russian companies take part in the conference, top-ranking officials and economists address participants with speeches. The main objective of the forum is to bring western investors and Russian businessmen together, an informal environment is the best way to achieve this goal. Participants of the forum were able not only to enjoy Alpine skiing, skating and curling, which are traditional activities for Switzerland, but to go to a mountain brewery and the Via Mala gorge. And discussions about an IPO (initial public offering) turned into a party for CHIVAS life.

And forecasts made by Former Head of the Russian Central Bank Viktor Gerashchenko, who is now Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Property Committee, sounded paradoxical. On the one hand, he forecasted a default on corporate debt obligations and on bank debt obligations in 2007. On the other hand, Former Head of the Russian Central Bank comforted foreign investors. According to him, the current situation makes it possible not to create mechanisms of guaranteeing investments in the Russian economy. Analysts have been forecasting an IPO boom in Russia for a long time. Several companies have declared their intention to carry out an initial public offering, including metal giants RusAl, SUAL and the Ural Mining and Metal Company, retail chains the Seventh Continent and Perekryostok, food companies the Razgylyay holding and the Cherkizovsky holding, a perfume company the Kalina Concern and the mobile operator MegaFon. The Russky Textile company, SkyLink and Tinkoff have named the exact date and other parameters of their IPOs. According to the Tinkoff chairman, the company plans to offer 35-40 percent of its authorized capital to Russian investors in 2005. The company has chosen the Russian market because the company lacks the revenue necessary to be admitted to a listing on western exchanges. But the most shocking statement made in Davos covered not the economy but the life and health of millions of people. According to the head of Wimm-Bill-Dann David Yakobashvili, the company plans to buy the technology for producing the drug, which stops the development of the AIDS virus.