Russia Partners Management

Contact: Drew Guff and Vladimir Andrienko

Russia Partners has one of the largest pure private equity presences in Russia and the Former Soviet Union today, with 18 investment professionals in three offices (Moscow, Samara and Kiev) and nearly 40 employees. Russia Partners began operations in the Region in 1991, initially working with the Russian Presidential Administration of Boris Yeltsin to develop a long-term private investment fund and also providing corporate advisory services to Western and Russian companies.  These activities led to the establishment of Russia Partners Company (RP I) and Russia Partners II (RP II), private equity funds raised in 1994 and 2004 with $155 million and $335 million in capital commitments, respectively.

Both RP I and II generated support from the U.S. and Russian Governments. OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) provided a guarantee facility to the RP I and RP II investors and the SIC (State Investment Corporation of the Russia Federation) was an investor in RP I. RP I is now fully invested and harvested, with numerous profitable realizations.

In addition to RP I and II, Russia Partners assumed the management of two troubled private equity portfolios, Lower Volga Regional Venture Fund (“LVRVF”) and Commonwealth Property Investors (“CPI”).

Russia Partners assumed the management of the $30 million LVRVF portfolio for the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) in 1999 after $18 million of capital had been invested.  The LVRVF primarily invested in small and medium-sized companies with up to 5,000 employees, good management, significant growth prospects and a focused core business, and which did not require substantial restructuring. The LVRVF was required to invest at least 75% of its capital in the following Russian cities: Samara, Saratov and Volograd.

Russia Partners assumed the management of the $54 million CPI portfolio in 2000.  CPI invested in prime retail space, office buildings, as well as residential complexes in partnership with local developers and/or property managers. Among CPI's investments was a class A business center in Kiev -- where the US Embassy was a tenant, prime retail space in Novy Arbat -- a main shopping thoroughfare in Moscow, a class A office building in St. Petersburg, and a residential complex of single family homes and town houses in suburban Moscow.

Russia Partners successfully rationalized these portfolios and achieved realizations at values substantially above the fair value of the portfolio assets at the time Russia Partners assumed control.