Russian business is gaining a foothold abroad – Kommersant FM
[ad_1]
Since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, Russian business has opened more than 11 thousand foreign branches. The largest number of offices appeared in Serbia; 9 thousand divisions of domestic companies were registered there. In second place is the United Arab Emirates (about 1.6 thousand offices), in third place is Armenia, where the Russians opened 800 branches. This data is provided by the Finion company. What benefits do such divisions provide to a business? And hasn’t their work become more difficult amid tightening sanctions? Daria Fomenko found out.
All the leading countries in this rating previously appeared on the lists of the most interesting for relocants. Against this background, some companies immediately counted on an already familiar audience. And, for example, in Serbia, expectations were fully justified, co-owner of the Kofilin company Anatoly Pobozhev, who owns two chains of coffee shops – in St. Petersburg and Belgrade, shared his experience:
“The positives are that it’s a very similar market and a very similar mentality. In general, Belgrade seemed to me very similar to St. Petersburg ten years ago.
Accordingly, all the experience that I had in the Northern capital can be transferred here and coffee shops can be opened here according to an already established scheme. The limit in Serbia, it seems to me, has not yet been exhausted, Belgrade’s capacity is much lower than St. Petersburg, competitors are also opening up. This is a fairly flexible, fruitful market that will continue to grow in the next few years.”
The purpose of the move for another part of the business was to interact with international markets. Russian offices are limited in financial instruments and certainly cannot boast of an impeccable reputation for counterparties, while a foreign branch is quite capable of expanding its geography, says the head of the IT company Algorithmic Lab, Konstantin Moroshin, who opened an office in Serbia:
“As for opening branches for IT companies, this area itself is very flexible. Its representatives were simply pushed to those locations in which it was more comfortable to work. I think there is no hard limit as such, there is room to grow. I rather see rapid growth.
The entire international market is available to any Serbian company without restrictions. “More attention is being paid to the Middle East and Latin America.”
A blow for foreign offices was the complication of working with local banks. In Serbia, this problem is not so pressing, but in Armenia or Turkey, banks blocked Russian accounts. Nevertheless, as Arkady Sergeev, founder of the Creative Structure agency, notes, the opening of a branch in Yerevan allowed his company to work with previous international clients:
“At the beginning of 2023, many banks in Armenia, I would say 95%, suspended receiving Russian money. I have a bunch of friends who have had funds in their correspondent accounts for quite some time.
The opening of branches is interesting not from the point of view of the internal Armenian market, but from the point of view of the fact that the country, in fact, is a bridge between other states and Russia.
From the customers’ point of view, the Transcaucasian countries are, of course, a very small market. The lion’s share is still other markets.”
In February 2024 financial problems have also arisen in the United Arab Emirates. Due to the risk of secondary sanctions, large banks began to close Russian accounts. However, as Roman Makarov, a partner at the NSP law office, notes, this is not a widespread story yet (his company also opened an office in Dubai):
“We see our division here as a way to serve our foreign clients. There are problems with payments. Some company opens in a free zone with a consulting license and after that begins to do not what it was created for, but trade in some goods, for example, oil or servers. Naturally, the banks are not happy with this.”
However, it is clearly too early for foreign offices to relax – the United States and the European Union intend to further tighten control over circumvention of sanctions. And ties to distant Russian roots are likely to be of little benefit to new international companies.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
[ad_2]
Source link
