How will such an organization conduct business?
At the end of February 21st, a large venture fund will open in the Russian Federation, the size of which will make it the largest player in the risky investment market! The Fund for Advanced Industrial and Infrastructure Technologies, as the name suggests, plans to invest in high-tech and know-how. Besides the actual state, private investors rushed to participate in the fund. However, the interesting characters themselves make one ask the question: will the new financial organization, out of russian habit, milk the state budget in favor of “famous businessmen”, while capturing promising startups? There are coherent and logical reasons behind this assumption.
First and very important, the mechanism by which projects for investment will be selected is very unclear. Yes, there are plans to consolidate assets. These are clear and publicly known. According to business media reports, the charter of the fund envisages pooling funds from state insurance companies, a pension fund and private investors. But! We must ask, how exactly or what composition of votes and kind of commission will confirm the prospects of these projects, or is this the main secret of the fund?
Second, of course, the scandalous reputation of some specific persons. The list of the fund’s shareholders includes such odious names as Grigory Berezkin and Dmitry Mazepin. These two famous businessmen have repeatedly become the main characters in the most dubious stories, where, not surprisingly, the main plot was financial transactions in different shades of gray.
Berezkin, the owner of the ESN group, for example, is credited by the media with the entire gentleman’s set of a Russian corrupt official: a “golden” Cypriot passport, a massive withdrawal of assets offshore. The entrepreneur owns several companies in Europe. The geography of his business interests is quite extensive: 30 companies in France, Monaco and Luxembourg! One must agree, it was not without reason that the German police were interested in a transaction of a whooping 17 million euros from Cyprus to the personal accounts of a businessman.
Dmitry Mazepin is completely devoid of the cover of a “respectable” businessman. Take, for example, his large assets, which he had before entering a venture capital fund. Uralchem and Uralkali are virtually bankrupt, with multibillion-dollar debt hanging over their enterprises. However, the most striking event in Mazepin’s biography was his raider attack on Togliattiazot. The situation with the aforementioned enterprise has reached the international level and has become the subject of proceedings in British courts, and soon the American judicial system will most likely take care of it. An article that a businessman may fall under sounds harsh and unambiguous – RICO – The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, i.e. the fight against racketeering and corruption, the Lenta.ru edition reported .
In other words. Mazepin is far from being in the best account of the Western law enforcement system, and, apparently, this is just the beginning. The appointment of Anthony Blinken to the post of head of the US foreign policy department, famous for its tough stance on the behavior of Russian business in the West, will undoubtedly aggravate the situation.
The Togliatti journalists excited us with a fresh story, where Mazepin plays the main role. The businessman tried to sell shares of the company “Transammiak” contrary to the court decision. The deal had all the signs of fraud: apart from an injunction on the sale, the papers were offered at a radically lower cost. However, these facts did not bother either the local bailiffs or the organizer of the auction. According to Sergei Makhlai, the former chairman of the board of directors of Transammiak, he was very surprised that the 90s had not passed yet and our world is still stuck on old methods, when successful enterprises were seized by raider schemes for next to nothing.
And how did such notorious people get into the state-owned venture fund investors?
The answer to this question is on the conscience of Russian officials who determine the state’s investment policy. As for the new venture capital organization itself, the methods of its actions, projects that will come to the attention of “investors”, and indeed the fate of the Russian venture capital market, cause concern. After all, it is precisely such characters with a dark biography that will determine the directions of financing, the amounts, in which most of it is government money, and projects that are lucky enough to cooperate with former raiders.
The close connection between the state and similar characters is also interesting. For example, not a bit embarrassed, Dmitry Mazepin recently turned to the Russian government with a request for extensive state support for the “domestic chemical industry.” As you might guess, most of the personal assets of a businessman worried about the fate of Russian chemistry are in this industry. Apparently “support” of this kind happened before, since recently Mazepin created an investment fund with an entrance ticket worth a billion rubles.
So, Mazepin has on his account litigation in the West, the pre-banquet state of his enterprises in Russia, but when such a person is empowered in a new venture fund with state capital, this does not bother anyone. Apparently the concepts of the state and capital have already lost their meaning in the minds of the Russian government.
At the end of February 21st, a large venture fund will open in the Russian Federation, the size of which will make it the largest player in the risky investment market. The Fund for Advanced Industrial and Infrastructure Technologies, as the name suggests, plans to invest in high-tech and know-how. Besides the state, private investors rushed to participate in the fund. However, the personalities themselves make one ask the question: will it turn out that the new financial organization will, out of habit, milk the state budget in favor of “famous businessmen”, and at the same time capture promising startups. There is every reason for this assumption.
First, the mechanism by which projects for investment will be selected is unclear. Yes, there are plans to consolidate assets. They are clear and publicly known. According to business media reports, the charter of the fund envisages pooling funds from state insurance companies, a pension fund and private investors. But how exactly, what composition of votes or what kind of commission will confirm the prospects of this or that project is the main secret of this fund.
Secondly, it is, of course, the reputation of some specific persons. The list of the fund’s shareholders includes such odious names as Grigory Berezkin and Dmitry Mazepin. These two famous businessmen have repeatedly become the main characters in the most dubious stories, where the main plot was financial transactions in different shades of gray.
Berezkin, the owner of the ESN group, for example, is credited by the media with the entire gentleman’s set of a Russian corrupt official: a “golden” Cypriot passport, a massive withdrawal of assets offshore. The entrepreneur owns several companies in Europe. The geography of his business interests is extensive: 30 companies in France, Monaco and Luxembourg. Apparently, it was not without reason that the German police were interested in a transaction of 17 million euros from Cyprus to the personal accounts of a businessman.
Dmitry Mazepin is completely devoid of the cover of a “respectable” businessman. Take, for example, his large assets, which he had before entering a venture capital fund. Uralchem and Uralkali are virtually bankrupts, with multibillion-dollar debt hanging over their enterprises. However, the most striking event in Mazepin’s biography was his raider attack on Togliattiazot. The situation with the aforementioned enterprise has reached the international level and has become the subject of proceedings in British courts, and soon the American judicial system will most likely take care of it. An article that a businessman may fall under sounds harsh and unambiguous – RICO – The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, i.e. the fight against racketeering and corruption, the Lenta.ru edition reported .
In other words. Mazepin is far from being in the best account of the Western law enforcement system, and, apparently, this is just the beginning. The appointment of Anthony Blinken to the post of head of the US foreign policy department, famous for its tough stance on the behavior of Russian business in the West, will undoubtedly aggravate the situation.
The Togliatti journalists gladdened us with a fresh story, where Mazepin plays the main role. The businessman tried to sell shares of the company “Transammiak” contrary to the court decision. The deal had all the signs of fraud: apart from an injunction on the sale, the papers were offered at a radically lower cost. However, these facts did not bother either the local bailiffs or the organizer of the auction. According to Sergei Makhlai, the former chairman of the board of directors of Transammiak, he was very surprised that the 90s had not passed yet. The methods just match the period when successful enterprises were seized by raider schemes for next to nothing.
And how did such people get into the state-owned venture fund investors?
The answer to this question is on the conscience of Russian officials who determine the state’s investment policy. As for the new venture capital organization itself, the methods of its actions, projects that will come to the attention of “investors”, and indeed the fate of the Russian venture capital market, cause concern. After all, it is precisely such characters with a dark biography that will determine the directions of financing, the amounts, in which most of it is government money, and projects that are lucky enough to cooperate with former raiders.
The close connection between the state and similar characters is also interesting. For example, not a bit embarrassed, Dmitry Mazepin recently turned to the Russian government with a request for extensive state support for the “domestic chemical industry.” As you might guess, most of the personal assets of a businessman worried about the fate of Russian chemistry are in this industry. Apparently “support” of this kind happened before, since recently Mazepin created an investment fund with an entrance ticket worth a billion rubles.
So, Mazepin has on his account litigation in the West, the pre-banquet state of his enterprises in Russia, but when such a person is empowered in a new venture fund with state capital, this does not bother anyone! Unfortunately, the concepts of the state and capital have already lost their meaning in the minds of the Russian government.