Mail.ru Group and Goldman Sachs Invested In Facebook $500 Million

Russian internet company Mail.ru Group (formerly Digital Sky Technologies) and the U.S. banking group Goldman Sachs have invested in the social network site Facebook $ 500 million. Goldman Sachs invested $450 million, and the rest  invested Mail.ru Group, Associated Press informed referring to the newspaper "The New York Times".


Neither a U.S. bank, nor the Russian company and Facebook give comments on this deal. It is noted that Mail.ru Group had already invested about half a billion dollars on Facebook. In addition, Goldman Sachs has the right to sell its stake in the social network of up to $ 75 million in favor of Mail.ru Group.

IPO of Groupon

The company Groupon (offering through the internet coupons for discounts at restaurants, shops and services of local companies) plans to hold an initial public offering (IPO) on the stock exchange before the end of 2011, reports The New York Times citing informed sources. 

According to the publication, a successful startup is now increasing capitalization, extends the list of investors and rejects proposals from larger companies. Groupon is simultaneously negotiating with financial advisers, preparing for public listing of its shares in 2011.
Groupon plans to sell shares at 31.59 dollars per share, which allows to evaluate a company in the amount of from 6,4 to 7,8 billion dollars, depending on the number of outstanding shares, according to research firm VC Expert, specializing in the evaluation of private companies. 


Annual revenue of Groupon is according to various estimates from $500 million to $ 2 billion. According to the head of Groupon Russia Elena Masolova profitability of this service in Russia is already several hundred thousand dollars.
Experts call Groupon one of the most successful and fastest-growing Internet startups. Among its investors there is the fund DST Global, whose president is the head of the company Mail.Ru Group Yuri Milner. The Fund owns 5,1% of Groupon. 


Groupon may cause excitement on the Stock Exchange. "Investors are considering  this  company to be a business, which in future will cost much more," - he said.

Auchan Opened 50 Stores ATAC In Russia During 2010

French Auchan Group manages a network of hypermarkets Auchan in Russia and in 2010opened the territory of Russia 18 supermarkets of its network ATAC: the 50th store was opened  in Krasnogorsk, the company reported.

The number corresponds to the claimed company's plans. During this year the company opened facilities in the Moscow region and in nearby regions.

The area of a supermarket in Krasnogorsk is 1.22 thousand square meters. As noted in the message, a new supermarket gas the expanded range of vegetables and fruits.

In mid-September 2010 Auchan reported about its plans to increase the number of Russian supermarket network ATAC to 200 stores by 2015.

Titanium Valley - Special Economic Zone In Sverdlovsk Region of Russia

2011 will see the development of the first phase (300 hectares) of the Special Economic Zone, Titanium Valley, in the Sverdlovsk Region. 

On December 16th in 2010, the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed the ordinance for development of Russia's fourth special economic zone.

By 2016, the total area of the Titanium Valley will amount to 700 hectares. Its anchor resident will become the VSMPO-Avisma Corporation, which initiated the creation of the special economic zone. Arvi, SR Systematics, MAG, and the United Aircraft Construction Corporation announced their intention to become residents of this zone.

It is planned that the residents will not pay property, land and transport taxes; the profit tax rate will be decreased from 20 to 15.5%. The Titanium Valley will have the status of a free customs zone: the residents will have the right to import goods to Russia without paying customs duties and VAT.

The prerequisite for being qualified as a zone resident is investment equal to minimum 3 million euro in industrial production operations performed within the Special Economic Zone, provided that minimum 1 million euro has been invested within the first year upon registration. At the initial stage of operations in the Titanium Valley, the total amount of investment is estimated at about 40 billion rubles.

By materias of Rusbiznews 

Investments of German Heidelberg Cement In Russia

Total volume of HeidelbergCement's investments in Russia is about $ 800 million, making the company one of the biggest German investors in the Russian economy General manager of HeidelbergCement in Russia Christian Knell reported today.


The company already has a strong position in the market of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad region with the plant Tsesla, it owns a controlling stake in a cement plant of the company Building materials in the Republic of Bashkortostan. "In addition, HeidelbergCement operates a terminal for the storage and delivery of 30,000 tons of cement per year in  Murmansk and terminal with a capacity of 200 thousand tons of cement per year in Kaliningrad, which is very important for the area where cement is not made", - said Mr Knell.


He also said that the company has made significant progress in building of a modern cement plant in Tula region. It is planned that the plant will be commissioned in late first quarter of next year and be able to provide cement-growing regions of Moscow and Moscow region.


"After the launch of the new plant output of HeidelbergCement in Russia will be more than 4 million tons per year, which will strengthen our position in the Russian market. In addition, using the best of European technology will be modernized production line of our plant in the Leningrad region. It will expand production capacity for cement up to 1.2 million tons a year", - said Mr Knell.


The recent decision by FIFA to hold the World Cup in Russia will also contribute to the rise of the cement industry. "According to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the investment in the construction of stadiums and surrounding infrastructure in 13 cities in Russia will amount to about $ 10 billion. Russia will build not only a new stadium - will be upgrading roads and rail will be built and modernized airports and hotels of different classes. Of course, the World Cup - is not cheap, but it's worth the money spent, as new construction projects will improve the living conditions of the Russians. HeidelbergCement company is ready to participate in the preparation for the championship and deliver high-quality cement, "- said the head of HeidelbergCement in Russia.


HeidelbergCement has every opportunity to thrive in the Russian market. "We operate in 11 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, most of them occupy leading positions in the cement market. Accordingly, we expect that will also be able to develop successfully in Russia," - he said in an interview.


German group HeidelbergCement Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of building materials, cement and concrete, a world leader in the production of crushed stone. 

Taxation Of Foreign Legal Entities In Russia

Foreign organisations, international organisations – legal entities with permanent divisions in Russia, diplomatic and other representations of equal status must get registered with Russian tax authorities.

Foreign organizations engaged (or planning to be engaged) in operation in the RF through divisions for over 30 calendar days per year (in turn or in aggregate)

- must get registered with a tax body at the location of conducting the activity (within 30 days after operations

started), it does not matter whether the activity afterwards is recognised as subject to taxation or  not. After registration the certificate of established form is issued with TIN (taxpayer’s identification number) and CRR (code number of reason for registration).

- Should organisation have more than one division at the territory controlled by one tax body, the organisation informs the tax body about each division at that territory. In this case the tax body issues information letter with CRR indicated. Should organisation have its divisions (newly opened included) at the territory controlled by different tax bodies, it must get registered with each tax body and receive separate certificates with TIN and CRR indicated.

Documents submitted to the tax body for registration:

• Application according to the established format

• Excerpt from the Trade Register, incorporation certificate or similar document – for initial registration

• Reference from the foreign tax body of the country of incorporation with indicated taxpayer's number (its analogue) – for initial registration

• Decision of an authorised body of the foreign organisation on creation of a division in Russia or copy of the contract serving as grounds for operations in Russia

• Power of attorney issued by the foreign organisation to the head (deputy head) of the division

• Copy of registration certificate issued by Russian tax body a foreign organisation is registered with – for registration of newly created division at the territory under the jurisdiction of a different tax body.

Special Economic Zones In Russia

Special economic zones (SEZs) are areas eligible for special business regulations and were created in 2005 with the aim of attracting investment into the regions of Russia.

Russian legislation outlines four types of special economic zones:

- Industrial and development zones 

- Technological implementation zones

- Tourist and recreational zones

- Port zones.

SEZs offer a simplified procedure of land assignment, as well as special free customs regime and a number of tax preferences for SEZ residents.

 Russia has two industrial and development zones, four technological implementation zones and seven tourist and recreational zones. Following competitive tender results, bids have been approved for the creation of three port SEZs.

The locations of SEZs in Russia are as follows:

Technological implementation zones

- Zelenograd, Moscow

- Dubna, Moscow Region

- St. Petersburg

- Tomsk

Industrial and development zones

- Elabug (Tatarstan)

- Lipetsk

Tourist and recreational zones

- Stavropol Territory

- Zelenograd District, Kaliningrad Region

- Irkutsk Region

- Krasnodar Territory

- Altai Region, Altai Territory

- Baikal Region, Republic of Buryatia

Port zones

- Krasnoyarsk (Emelyanovo Airport)

- Ulyanovsk (Ulyanovsk-East Airport)

- Seaport in Khabarovsk Region

IPO Of Metalloinvest In 2011

Metalloinvest in 2011 will sell 20-30% of its shares by IPO. The company is ready for listing in the next year, but deployment dates depend on market conditions. Metalloinvest plans to raise $ 3.8 billion to develop the giant Udokan copper deposit in the Trans-Baikal Territory.

Metalloinvest won the competition for the right to develop Udokan in 2008. For two years the company held the first stage of exploration on the field , and two weeks ago announced the tender for the second one.

Udokan  which ores contain 60% of copper reserves of Russia or 20 million tons can make Metalloinvest one of the ten largest producers of nonferrous metal in the world.

Construction of infrastructure at the field should begin in 2012 and in 2014 production of at least 12 million tonnes of ore per year will be started, in 2016 - 36 million tonnes of ore per year.

The company is expected to produce 474,000 tonnes of copper per year with a fair extracting of 277 tons of silver.

VTB Plans 2 Aquisitions In 2011: Bank Of Moscow And Transcreditbank

The second largest state bank of Russia VTB expects to buy controlling stake or 100% of the Bank of Moscow in the first half of 2011, said the Head of the bank Andrey Kostin.


In this deal he sees the "greater synergy." "We have a total of 70 retail offices in Moscow, the Bank of Moscow - 140, Sberbank of about - 700. From the standpoint of the Moscow market it will add to our group positions perhaps on other regional markets."


Kostin believes that the coming year is only two acquisitions of Transkreditbank and Bank of Moscow.

Pepsico Will Buy Russian Wimm-Bill-Dann

Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has received a petition of the American Pepsico to buy Russia's largest producer of dairy products and drinks Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (WBD) the Deputy Head of FAS Andrei Tsyganov reported.


The deal to buy Wimm-Bill-Dann costs over $5.8 billion.  Initially, Pepsico will acquire 66% stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann from main shareholders for $3.8 billion, and then will give an offer to purchase the remaining shares.


Tsyganov said that the transaction will be considered by the government commission to monitor foreign investments at the next meeting.,The date of the committee meeting is not yet assigned, but most likely it will take place until the end of the year.