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The conditions for acquiring businesses from owners from unfriendly countries have become tougher again. An analysis of these conditions was published in the magazine "Company Lawyer", No. 12, December 2023, which we recommend studying.

Short list of recommendations:

Determine market value through appraisers from the Ministry of Finance list

The price of the transaction determines whether the Government Commission will give permission to it. For an assessment, you will have to contact expert organizations from the list of the Ministry of Finance. Although the department indicated on its website that this is a list of recommended appraisers, it is now necessary to order research only from them. For the transaction, you will need to obtain a report on the assessment of the market value of shares or shares, as well as an expert opinion on this report. It is prepared by the SRO of which the appraiser is a member. The report must be up to date — he must be no more than six months old at the time the Government Commission considers your application.

Determine the discount from the price and calculate the amount of voluntary contribution to the budget

During negotiations on the price of repurchase of shares or interests, it is necessary to take into account the requirement of the Government Commission on a discount. A seller from an unfriendly country has the right to sell his share in the company for a maximum of 50% of its market value. This value must be determined based on the appraiser's report.

When structuring a deal, it is also important to take into account the additional financial burden in the form of a voluntary contribution to the budget. This fall, officials increased the fee again. Now it does not depend on the size of the discount and in any case is 15% of the market value of assets.

Develop performance indicators for the new management

Before purchasing, you need to involve specialists so that they evaluate the performance indicators for the new owners. It is important for officials that the company continues to make a profit after the transaction. A government commission will evaluate how the new owners plan to manage the company after the transaction.

Agree with the foreign participant how he will receive payment

It is necessary to decide in advance with the foreign participant how he will receive payment for his share in the company. It is important to determine whether he will withdraw funds from the Russian Federation. The choice of option for how a foreign participant can receive money depends on this.

Allow at least 4 months for approval of the transaction

The regulations do not contain a deadline within which the Government Commission is obliged to consider the application. Practice shows that it needs four months or more.

Agree on a transaction with securities if they are accounted for in the account of a foreign depository

Now it is necessary to coordinate with the Government Commission all transactions, the party of which is connected with unfriendly countries and as a result of which ownership of Russian securities arises. Permission will have to be obtained, even if transactions take place in a foreign perimeter.

Note of the REAB Consortium: since the acquisition of a business from an owner from an unfriendly state is becoming an increasingly difficult task, it is obvious that it is necessary to involve not only an appraiser from the list recommended by the Ministry of Finance, but also a professional business broker who will help you go through all the difficult stages of this path.

The REAB consortium (Russian-Eurasian Business Broker) celebrates the first year of its activity. During this time, we managed to get firmly on our feet, launch a functional website with a catalog of lots and a rich information archive, find interesting partners and many useful contacts in the markets for buying and selling businesses in different countries and begin fruitful work with them. The REAB business model has proven its worth.

We hope that the next year of work will bring us even more achievements, interesting acquaintances and significant projects. And our clients have new opportunities to expand their economic geography and enter new promising markets.

At the beginning of October, negotiations between the leadership of the REAB Consortium and representatives of business and government of the United Arab Emirates took place in Dubai. The Arab side expressed great interest in entering the Russian market and acquiring businesses in Russia, in particular in the sphere of telecoms and logistics. In turn, the Emirates are ready to offer promising businesses in the UAE to Russian buyers. The parties agreed to develop fruitful cooperation and work on a number of specific business lots.

On July 27-28, 2023, the second Russia-Africa summit and the economic and humanitarian forum "For Peace, Security and Development" timed to coincide with it were held in St. Petersburg (Russia). The forum was attended by 49 countries, 17 of which were represented by heads of state. The first such event took place in 2019 in Sochi.

The holding of the Forum was a strategically important step towards creating the most favorable conditions for the development of trade and economic relations between the Russian Federation and African countries, and also made it possible to diversify the forms and directions of Russian-African cooperation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the forum, and also held a number of meetings with the leaders of African countries who arrived at the summit.

The REAB consortium also took part in the forum, represented by Vladislav Skorokhodov, head of the legal department. In particular, meetings were held and presentations were given to representatives of Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Mozambique, as well as a number of Russian companies showing an active interest in entering the African market. The REAB consortium confirmed its readiness for cooperation in the market of buying and selling businesses in Russia and friendly countries of Africa, which were united by the forum.

On July 4, the Islamic Republic of Iran officially became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This is stated in the declaration adopted following the SCO online summit in -Delhi.

For the REAB Consortium, this means that new opportunities are opening up for cooperation with Iran, including in the market for buying and selling business between countries. We are ready to assist Russian and Iranian entrepreneurs in their entry into the markets of our states in the form of acquiring ready-made companies or shares in them.

On June 17, the XXVI St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) ended its work, which has become one of the largest and most significant business events in the world. In difficult geopolitical and economic conditions, when Russia is reorienting itself to a new geography of its economic cooperation, the forum managed to attract the attention of new allies interested in developing trade and economic ties with our country. The event brought together over 17,000 participants from 130 countries and territories, who discussed the importance of joining forces for sovereign development for the sake of future generations for four days. Forum participants signed more than 900 agreements totaling almost 4 trillion rubles.

In relation to the market where the REAB Consortium operates, the key results of the forum are as follows:

• The Russian economy has withstood and continues to develop progressively;
• Russian international cooperation is now focused on the countries of the EAEU, SCO, BRICS and other friendly states of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South and Latin America;
• Russian investors who are ready to invest in international projects and buy businesses are eagerly welcomed in foreign countries — in particular, this was emphasized by the President of Algeria, Abdelmajid Tebboun;
• in this economic interaction, including cross-border transactions, the shares of the dollar and the euro will be reduced, and the shares of national currencies — will increase;
• In the same way, Russia willingly attracts foreign investors and business buyers, including for regional projects.

Thus, it can be expected that the market for business purchases and sales and M&A transactions in countries actively cooperating with Russia is expected to grow steadily.

On May 24-25, 2023, the Eurasian Economic Forum was held in Moscow — a representative event timed to coincide with the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council with the participation of the heads of member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and observer states. In 2023, the EEF was held under the motto "Eurasian Integration in a Multipolar World". This is the second such forum, the first was held in May 2022 in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.

The forum traditionally has a high level of representation: President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Kemelevich Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Nurgozhoevich Zhaparov, Vice Prime Minister Republic of Armenia Mher G. Grigoryan.

Key theses of the forum: The EAEU presents itself as an united space and invites other countries to cooperate. The main issue on the agenda of the EAEU, BRICS, SCO — the creation of a single currency and the provision of settlements between participating countries without the dollar, as well as the elimination of barriers in the transport and logistics sector.

The construction of a multipolar world is actively continuing. Many countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin and South America are tired of US hegemony and want a transition to fair, free and mutually beneficial trade and business partnerships with the states of the Eurasian association.

The REAB Consortium participated in the Eurasian Economic Forum represented by Vladislav Skorokhodov, Head of the Legal Department. In particular, meetings were held with business consultants from Kyrgyzstan, the Ambassador of Angola to the Russian Federation. The REAB consortium confirmed its readiness for cooperation in the market for buying and selling businesses in the EAEU, SCO, BRICS and friendly countries that the forum united.

In March 2023, a meeting of the subcommittee of the Government Commission for Control over Foreign Investments in the Russian Federation was held. At this meeting, decisions were made on the conditions for the sale of businesses in Russia by owners from unfriendly countries and their affiliates.

In case of such a sale by foreign persons associated with foreign states that commit unfriendly actions in relation to the Russian Federation, Russian legal entities and individuals (including if such foreign persons have the citizenship of these states, their place of registration, the place of their primary conduct economic activity or the place of their primary profit from their activities are these states), or persons who are under the control of these foreign persons, regardless of the place of their registration or the place of their predominant economic activity, proceed, as a rule, from the expediency of establishing the listed conditions for the implementation (execution) of such transactions (operations):

1. Obligation to voluntarily transfer funds to the federal budget in the amount of at least 10% of half of the market value of the relevant assets indicated in the asset valuation report;
2. The obligation to voluntarily transfer funds to the federal budget in the amount of at least 10% of the market value of the relevant assets indicated in the asset valuation report, if the sale of assets is carried out at a discount of more than 90% of the market value of the relevant assets indicated in the asset valuation report.

For entrepreneurs from friendly countries (with whom the Russian-Eurasian Business Broker REAB works), this news means that attractive assets at an affordable price will appear on the Russian market for buying and selling businesses, which means new investment opportunities.

The Russian-Eurasian business broker REAB has opened its official pages in social networks that are popular in our geographic markets.

All links to our social networks are located in the footer of each page of the website, and aslo we will provide these links here.

For English-speaking readers, these are:

• VKontakte - https://vk.com/reabpro_eng
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/reab.english/
• Telegram - https://t.me/reab_pro_eng
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/ReabProEng
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/reab-pro/?locale=en_US

There we post content updates — news, new lots in the catalog and new articles. In addition, these places are, of course, another convenient tools for communicating with us.

Join and subscribe!

During the Days of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly in the Arab Republic of Egypt, on February 1, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly held a panel session “The Greater Eurasian Partnership: Economic Cooperation, Trade, Investments, Logistics” at the International Business Forum “Prospects for Business Cooperation in the Eurasian Space”.

The platform brought together speakers from 11 countries, including Russia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Macedonia, India, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Turkey.

At this session, the Chairman of the Board of the REAB Consortium, Igor Kalinin, made a presentation of our project, the online platform and its capabilities, and also spoke about the prospects for the development of the Russian-Eurasian Business Broker, including in the context of Russian business relations with Egypt, the countries of the Middle East and Africa. This is our first presentation in such a representative international event, which will help establish new business relationships on our site.

Watch Igor Kalinin's speech at the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/Zv5g048gA1g?feature=share&t=9030

REAВ与“欧亚民众大会”（ANE）签订了合作协议。这是一个积极参与、分享和推广欧亚一体化思想和价值观、维护和平、加强民族友谊、和谐、伙伴关系和邻里友好的非政府组织和公民国际联盟。

我们与ANE的合作将促进社会和人文事务发展并加入到新的商业世界，改善不同国家社会责任商业间的互动。

我们的联盟标志意义明确，未来世界和市场的大部分将属于我们服务的联盟、联盟、组织和成员。标志的大小可以清楚地看到。

与此同时，它的特点是简洁和严谨-这是真正的风格特征。

我们网站的设计将遵循相同的精神。我们不需要通过华丽和毫无个性的话语来让访问者感到困惑，也不需要用商业照片来引起他们的厌倦。一切都将是简单、方便、严肃和实质性的。快速、方便、易懂。没有多余的东西。

我们的联盟将以同样的方式运作。