Annie Tsoneva

Russian diversified holding company Metropol Group is looking for partners to develop a tourism project on an island in Montenegro, a real estate project in Moscow and mines in western Siberia, the head of its financial arm, IFC Metropol, told DealWatch.

"Our group is seeking partners for three main investment projects. One of them is for the development of an island off the coast of Montenegro which belongs to our group," Alexis Rodzianko said in an interview on the sidelines of Euromoney's Central and Eastern European Forum held in Vienna in January.

"We are in some negotiations, hopefully we will have some news reasonably soon but that will be a major development in the Adriatic," he added.

The Sveti Marko island has territory of 34 hectares. It is only one kilometre off the coast and is very close to the airport of Tivat. Metropol estimates that some EUR 300mn would be needed to fully develop the island, creating the first six-star island spa resort in Europe.

Metropol is in talks with institutional investors and international developers.

Apart from that, Metropol is in active negotiations with several Chinese investors on its mining company Metals of Eastern Siberia. "Perhaps it's one of the largest deposits of zinc and lead in the world and it's very close to China," the executive said.

He did not mention the potential investors. However, according to a press release published on the web site of IFC Metropol, Chinese company NFC paid a visit to Metals of Eastern Siberia in the second half of January. The Chinese company reviewed the results of a due diligence carried out by Ernst & Young on a project for the production of zinc, lead and gold concentrates. The due diligence was required by the Chinese company, according to the press release.

In the Russian capital Moscow, Metropol is seeking a joint venture partner to develop a mixed-use complex on a land plot seen as the largest single one close to the centre of the city which is currently available for development. It covers about 20 hectares and is only two kilometres from the Kremlin. "That's a big development project and we have started some negotiations about that as well," Rodzianko added. Initially it will include a shopping mall and a residential part. Later on, office premises may also be developed.

Moscow-based international group Metropol is active in investment banking, mining, real estate development and tourism. Its financial arm, Investment and Financial Company (IFC) Metropol is one of the leading Russian financial companies. It offers services ranging from sales and trading of equity, fixed income and derivatives to corporate finance consultancy and asset management. Apart from Russia, it has representation offices in western and southeastern Europe, Canada, Congo and several Asian countries.

Russian businessman Mikhail Slipenchuk is majority owner of the Metropol group.

IFC Metropol advised the buyers in two M&A deals last year - the acquisition of Russian retail chain Narodnyi by one of the country's top retailers, X5 Retail Group, and the acquisition of a salt mining company in Ukraine by RusSol.

At the moment IFC Metropol has several live mandates in its pipeline, Rodzianko said but declined to disclose any details. The company assists a number of Russian companies from the energy and oil and gas sectors that may issue bonds while IPOs of Russian companies are unlikely this year, Rodzianko concluded.