The Moscow Times

Market Matters: As Conflict Ends, Markets on Road to Recovery
After tumbling to its lowest point in almost two years on Tuesday, Russia's MICEX Index began to slowly claw its way back over the rest of the week, suggesting a possible end to the volatility that has plagued the country's markets since tensions erupted between Russia and Georgia on Aug. 8.

The Moscow Times » Business For Business

Issue 3961 | 7 Aug 2008

Dover Corporation, a large western diversified manufacturing company is coming to the Russian market.
Draft interview with Pavel Goldman for the first publication

September 2008 will see a unique event that will be of interest to the entire power-production community.
The Russian market is welcoming a major Western industrial conglomerate - the DOVER International Corporation.

Issue 3929 | 24 Jun 2008

The Legal Factor in the Investment Climate
By Andrey Goltsblat / Special to The Moscow Times Never before has the production sector of Russia's economy seen such high investment growth as nowadays. In particular, foreign direct investment totaled, according to the Russian government, $47 billion in 2007, meaning a growth of more than 20 percent against 2006.

The Russian Stock Market Is Better Than Is Assumed
By Nikolay Egorov / Special to The Moscow Times Two years ago, the ratio of domestic equities to Russian companies' depository receipts was at approximately 50-50. Today, it is 70 percent domestically traded compared with 30 percent internationally traded.

IR in Russia and the CIS: The Country Makes a Difference
By Mikhail Matovnikov / Special to The Moscow Times Interfax Business Service and Thomson Financial have for a second time made a study of the quality of investor relations (IR) in Russia based on a survey of the investment community. In the 2008 study, we have included IR specialists from two CIS countries -- Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

IR Officers Have Been Officially Recognized
By Olga Rink / Special to The Moscow Times On April 29, 2008, Order No. 200 of the Health and Social Development Ministry was issued including the profession of IR specialist in Russia's qualifications list.

Strategic Communication Management
By Juliana Slaschyova / Special to The Moscow Times In 2005 to 2007, the global financial scene saw an upsurge of Russian public placements -- some 50 domestic corporations raised more than $50 billion on foreign and local stock exchanges.

IR Management
By Sergey Solomakha / Special to The Moscow Times IR management, as well as many other professions demanding some special level of economic development, is rather young in Russia, which leads to a typical set of problems.

Issue 3921 | 10 Jun 2008

Russia's Leasing Market in a European Context
By Nikita Mashkov / Special to The Moscow Times Each year leasing in Russia strengthens its position and the last year was no exception. According to research by the Russian association of leasing companies, in 2007 the leasing market has shown unprecedented growth, more than in two times in comparison with 2006.

Leasing Market in 2008
By Roman Romanovsky / Special to The Moscow Times The leasing market has grown in 2007 by 2.6 times and totaled $39 billion. It failed to grow even higher due to the liquidity crisis, which also impacted the market balance of power.

Leasing Taxation in Russia. VAT Recovery Specifics
By Ludmila Batalova / Special to The Moscow Times Tax benefits represent a significant advantage of leasing activities as compared with rental or purchase and sale contracts. However, leasing deals are often considered by tax authorities as a means of taxation avoidance and illegal VAT recovery.

Automation of Leasing: National Peculiarities
By Dmitry Kurdomonov / Special to The Moscow Times When creating representative offices abroad, transnational leasing corporations solve the problem of automation at an early stage. It would seem that the simplest solution is to implement in affiliate companies the same information system as in the parent organization, but most international leasing companies take a different approach.

Issue 3905 | 20 May 2008

Are Things Really Getting Better?
By Sergei Pepeliaev / Special to The Moscow Times Arbitration court statistics for 2007 help form an objective impression of the way tax relations are tending to develop in our country, indicating that there are still considerable risks involved in unjustified actions on the part of the tax authorities. On the other hand, the state arbitration courts are finding the strength, on the whole, to stand up against breaches of the laws in tax relations.

13% Tax -- Does It Apply to You?
By Danara Sharp / Special to The Moscow Times The personal income tax rate in Russia is one of the most attractive in the world due to the comparatively low rate of 13 percent. There is however requirements that must be met in order to have a status of tax resident within Russia and to be applicable for the tax rate of 13 percent.

A New Order to Performing Tax Audits And Tax Control Measures
By Irma Nemshevich / Special to The Moscow Times The main changes in the articles of the Tax Code concerning tax control were made by Federal Law No. 137-FZ dated as of July 27, 2006, and were put in force from Jan. 1, 2007.

Are Tax-Free Dividends for Foreign Investors Possible?
By Evgeny Timofeev / Special to The Moscow Times As of this year, Russia alongside many countries with developed tax systems has a participation exemption enabling Russian (but not foreign) companies to receive dividends from Russian or foreign subsidiaries tax-free.

Breach of Procedure Leads to Refusal to Collect Taxes From the Taxpayer
By Galina Akchurina / Special to The Moscow Times The Tax Code pays much attention to the legal governing of both the procedure for calculation and payment of taxes as well as the procedure of tax administering.

Issue 3883 | 15 Apr 2008

More Opportunities for Russian Issuers in 2008
By Elena Khisamova / Special to The Moscow Times The positive dynamic of Russian ECM volumes over the past several years is a clear sign that the local market has entered a new phase of its development and become a stable source of long-term capital.

How to Sell the Future to Investors: The Role of Investor Relations Before, During and After the IPO
By John Rose / Special to The Moscow Times Investor relations should ideally begin years before a company registers to float its shares on a stock exchange. Unfortunately, companies often make little to no investment in investor relations until just before or even after the IPO -- sometimes ignoring shareholders, hiding from bankers and spending as little time as possible with fund managers and institutional investors.

IPO Trends in Russia
By Marchello Gelashvili, Galina Shilina / Despite the global credit crunch, 2007 was still a record-breaking year for IPOs, with 30 listings by CIS and Russian domiciled companies generating $34 billion. Investors continued to focus on large deals, with a median deal size of $614.2 million.

DD for IPO
By A.S. Yermolenko / Special to The Moscow Times The first of the abbreviations used in this headline was established in business vocabulary long ago. The procedure it denotes is popular in economic practice. The very phrase ""due diligence"" -- literally, ""due care"" or ""due attention"" -- is used to denote the overall audit of company activity, as well as separate audits of other components of business: legal, tax, financial, construction or corporate due diligence. In most cases, such an audit is conducted by the investor at the purchase of someone's business or when making a decision regarding participation in someone's business.

Russian IPO/SPO Market -- Key Trends and Outlook
By Igor Katusha / Special to The Moscow Times Negative trends in the international financial markets and fear of global recession caused by events in the U.S. mortgage credit market has created negative conditions for placements made in 2007. Despite complex market conditions, 2007 saw a record Russian IPOs and SPOs. The total volume of IPOs and SPOs by 28 Russian companies reached $31 billion, including 22 IPOs totaling $21 billion, twice as much as in 2006.

IPOs in Russia: Where and How Are They Offered?
By Vladislav Kvetinsky / Special to The Moscow Times Since 2003, the subject of IPOs has become unusually popular among business media, which have sometimes formed euphoric notions among Russian business managers and owners about this method of capital procurement, as if it is a magic wand capable making a business and its owners rich in a moment.

Issue 3863 | 18 Mar 2008

The Impact of EU Competition Law on Russian Business
By Joseph Hainz, Jorg Karenfort / The growing economic interaction between Russia and the European Union effectuates the increasing importance of EU competition law for Russian companies.

Transfer-Pricing Legislation -- When Will It Be Amended?
By Henrik Hansen / Special to The Moscow Times Transfer-pricing reform has been on the government's agenda for the past few years, and a number of bills have been presented to the public. One even made it to the State Duma. Despite this, no amendments have yet been made to the existing rules in Articles 20 and 40 of the Tax Code.

Due Diligence of Commercial Real Estate Objects in Russia
By Sergey Markov / Special to The Moscow Times Before acquiring any asset, an investor often needs to define the legal risks that such a transaction can cause.

Issue 3804 | 11 Dec 2007

Thin Cap -- Still an Issue?
By co-head of Russian tax practice, Partner, Evgeny Timofeev / Salans As most countries do, Russia protects its right to tax in a variety of ways. One of them is designed to fight erosion of the tax base of Russian entities by paying excessive amounts of interest to related parties.

Taxation of International Transactions: Why Foreigners Keep Overpaying VAT in Russia
By Anton Zykov, head of law practice, Attorney-at-law, Irma Nemshevich / HLB Vneshaudit As a general rule, sales of goods, works and services by Russian companies are subject to value-added tax. However, some cross-border services are exempt from VAT.

Tax Blackmail Through the Use of the Taxpayer's Personal Account Card
By Head of Group of Tax Dispute, Galina Akchurina / FBK-Legal All companies are registered with the tax authorities by means of special cards called taxpayer's personal account cards that keep payment records. They usually contain information about the taxpayer's settlements with the budget and the current tax due.

Issue 3799 | 4 Dec 2007

Innovations in Land Law on Acquisition of Rights to State and Municipal Land
By Inga Shakhnazarova, / Associate, Salans On Oct. 30, 2007, the new Federal Law No. 212-FZ came into force amending the Federal Law on the Introduction of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, or Introduction Law, and the RF Land Code in regard of the procedure for acquiring rights to state and municipal land.

The Parity of Cadastral and Market Values of Land Plots in Government Cadastral Appraisals
By Elena Kovalchuk / Head of the department of legal consulting on commercial use of lands, Estimating the value of assets is a worry for owners of practically every company. But the price valuation of land -- an important and fundamental resource -- is often the very foundation or platform for building a business.

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