EBRD, created in 1991 to invest in former communist countries in transition, posted €2.4 billion ($3.16 billion) in 2006 earnings, up from €1.5 billion the previous year, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. London-based EBRD, which has invested €33.3 billion in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union since 1991, boosted 2006’s earnings on returns from previous equity investments, the statement said.
EBRD invested €1.9 billion of its €4.9 billion in total investments for the year in Russia. The bank invested €1.1 billion in Russia in 2005, according to the statement. „The rise in EBRD investments in Russia coincided with a doubling of bank staff in Moscow and plans to open three new regional offices in Russia in 2007 in the South, the Volga region and in Siberia,” EBRD said.
EBRD bought a 3.67% stake in OAO Sitronics, the technology unit of Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s AFK Sistema, last year, as well as a 20% stake in Sky Express, Russia’s first budget airline. Three quarters of EBRD’s investments in Russia last year were outside of the country’s two largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, the bank said. (Bloomberg)
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