Comments on Market Skeptics: *****Setting Up a Fund to invest in Russian Agricu...

Coming to the Russian market, especially in the ag...

2009-10-15T01:46:33.028-07:00

Coming to the Russian market, especially in the agricultural land assets business, you might need to find a relible local partner, to minimaize your risks and to insure your investment.
Before the business plan stage, all the incoming info and datas should be expertized by locals, who better know realities.
Most of existing foreign investors in Russian farm land did it. Hereinafter, as long they are in business here, more local specialists become involved.

Boris Velednitskiy (experianced agricultural engeneer/manager), Moscow, Russia
boris@agritech.ru

WAHA CAPITAL, Al Maktur Towers, Emirate of Ajman, ...

2009-10-06T23:22:33.181-07:00

WAHA CAPITAL,
Al Maktur Towers,
Emirate of Ajman,
UAE.

We are brokering and investment pact on behalf of our client seeking to invest in Russia.
Our client seeks to invest $34,000,000 (Thirty Four Million US Dollars) immediately if the proper partner and project is identified.
We wish to know if you are interested in this partnership, whereas such interest may be indicated by sending a timeous response via email to me, giving us an idea of what businesses you may propose to invest in.
The fund owner has interest in Real Estate and Hospitality businesses and would consider other industries where the risk factor is manageable.
Thank you.
Jack Turner. CFRE, CGS, M.Ed.
V.P (Business Development)
WAHA CAPITAL.
Email: gallant_mopol@yahoo.com

I thought it was ILLEGAL for foreigners to own lan...

2009-10-02T23:17:05.468-07:00

I thought it was ILLEGAL for foreigners to own land in Russia???!!! Not to mention, ILLEGAL for corporate ownership???

I'm a skeptic - please address my question.

look at the radionuclide distribution on this link...

2009-10-02T21:37:12.359-07:00

look at the radionuclide distribution on this link:
http://www.chernobylee.com/blog/images/chernobyl_mapContinentalScale_sm.jpg
Why would anyone let such fabulous soil lay untilled?
Just asking what no one else asked.

How much radioactive elements are in the soil from...

2009-10-02T21:33:40.176-07:00

How much radioactive elements are in the soil from the Chernobyl burnout?

Like a good many who farm the Great Plains of Nort...

2009-09-27T16:01:39.943-07:00

Like a good many who farm the Great Plains of North America, I am a descendant of the Volga Germans.

Our people, tired of endless war, left Germany for the Volga in 1767 at the invitation of Katherine the Great.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's they emigrated again, many moving to farms in the Great Plains.

Those who stayed in Russia suffered many misfortunes, from starvation and expropriation in the 1920's and 30's to deportation to Siberia in WW2.

Though my ancestors prospered for the 120 years they were in Russia and emigrated before things got really bad there, what happened to those who stayed makes me very afraid to invest there.

yes, weird suggestion that Russia has good infrast...

2009-08-17T16:43:06.841-07:00

yes, weird suggestion that Russia has good infrastructure . . and (with respect to your baby boomer comment), Russia supports an enormous retired population that's growing. Badly aging demographics, I think much worse than European average.

when I think about Russia, it reminds me of western China, except it's moving in the opposite direction. It feels like a frontier, but it's COLLAPSING . .

what you write about agriculture is of course quite cogent . . but you complicate a simple thing (your sound conclusions about agriculture) by doing this in Russia.

"fear of investing in US debt will exceed fear of investing in russia, and capital will flood into russia" - OTHER places in the world will still be more attractive than russia, and there are deteriorating relations with the west to consider

still, I'm intrigued. Good luck to you!

Here is a good article which supports the ideas of...

2009-08-01T11:26:43.646-07:00

Here is a good article which supports the ideas of Eric regarding investment into farm land:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,639224,00.html

Oh, C'mon! This is obviously a joke! Ha-ha! Do...

2009-07-25T11:16:53.400-07:00

Oh, C'mon! This is obviously a joke!
Ha-ha!
Don't you get it? Russia has good INFRASTRUCTURE!
And then - there is 50,000 dollars to invest - a second punch line!

Man, that was brilliant!

I am speechless..

A Russian guy

I think the idea is good but why start your own fu...

2009-07-22T15:43:18.885-07:00

I think the idea is good but why start your own fund there area many funds and corporations that set up before the financial crises and are now trading at low values. Why not just search out value and leverage against other peoples skills?

The key investment advice is invest in agriculture. Does it have to be in Russia? Not really.

I think buying a fund that invests in coastal land adjacent to the arctic sea may be a really good idea on the basis of global warming, trade route, fishery, forestry and farming.d

good luck. My wife is Russian from Moscow , I am t...

2009-07-22T14:53:19.241-07:00

good luck. My wife is Russian from Moscow , I am the CEO of a prepaid telecom co. with offices in the USA and israel, she advised me against doing any business in Russia , she said you,ll lose everything!!

Interesting blog about South American agriculture:...

2009-07-22T09:04:23.693-07:00

Interesting blog about South American agriculture:

http://jimrogers1.blogspot.com/2009/07/farmland-investing-in-south-america.html

Hello! This is a good idea! I live in Russia and w...

2009-07-20T06:29:22.711-07:00

Hello! This is a good idea! I live in Russia and work in one of the biggest russian investment company that deals with agricultural funds. Maybe I could've consult you over this topic, find the "right" peoplea and probably good solutions. Please email me if there is an interest to discuss this matter with me. My email: jks@live.ru

Hello Eric, is minimum entry share already decid...

2009-07-14T04:44:10.279-07:00

Hello Eric,

is minimum entry share already decided?

I am certain about how succesful can be an investm...

2009-07-08T12:43:32.822-07:00

I am certain about how succesful can be an investment in farms in Russia.
The risk involved it is as high as investing in so called stable countries from latinamerica like Mexico, Argentine, or even till some years ago, Venezuela.

The only thing we must be afraid of Russia, are the articles our good well respected magazines such as The Economist, Foreign Affairs, and the like, produce to feed us with unreflected fears.

Russia, as Mexico, as Ukrayne, and Congo, are the only places where water will be abundance, despite of any melting going on. Thus, as agriculture is more related to manage water than land, seems to me the right spot.

...yes, that is correct: I am the previous directo...

2009-07-08T12:30:36.570-07:00

...yes, that is correct: I am the previous director of the Department of Foreign Investment at the Ministry of Privatisation of the Czech Republic. I am also a previous Director of Corporate Finance at two European Investment Banks as well as the previous adviser to several other governments and their agencies, including Kazakhstan. I was lucky NOT to have taken the job as adviser to Mr. Yeltsin as that ended in very public personal disgrace for those who did (and they were highly-placed contractors of a US government agency!)

The business mentality in Eastern Europe has its roots only partially in the Communist Era. There is a much longer history to be considered. Europe is a very different culture than that of the US...it has only superficial similarities and one must live there for many years to acquire that insight and understanding. Legal systems don't function well in Eastern Europe because nobody in power wants them to do so. That won't change for generations.

As for the younger generation: They bear, in financial matters, comparison to unfettered, hungry whelps. They can be and frequently are smarter, more ruthless and more rapacious than their communist fathers.

"You've got to know the territory". I do.

Dear Eric , the previous poster was the previous D...

2009-07-08T02:36:55.385-07:00

Dear Eric , the previous poster was the previous Director of the Department.....

Don't let the old political distrusts effect you. There are lots of honest Russians. Things are improving and changing all the time there. A new generation not raised in the comunist regime is growing in influence.

...apologize for the "typos" in my previous post. ...

2009-07-07T22:20:09.397-07:00

...apologize for the "typos" in my previous post. Here is my email for those who might like confirmation of my credentials (Ministry of Privatisation, etc.) and views on additional countries with better legal infrastructure and greater safety for agricultural (or any other) investment: mountain_cat_13@yahoo.com.

...there are other countries in Eastern Europe pos...

2009-07-07T22:07:55.753-07:00

...there are other countries in Eastern Europe possessing fertile an (relatively) inexpensive agricultural land...three of them, in particular, much healthier, in all senses, than Russia. I know as I have lived and worked for 19 years in all of them and speak the respective languages. Moreover, I am a lawyer with experience in both European and US tax and investment. Russia, without a Russian partner will be a tough environment, not impossible, just tough. The business mentality is utterly unconstrained by any ethical or legal considerations...none. It's strictly a matter of whom you know and whom can you intimidate. "Trust" doesn't enter into the matter...power, and only power, does.

Should anyone here wish to discuss the other opportunities available, that includes you. Mr. DeCarbonnel, I will be happy to oblige. A fund is feasible BUT only if approached correctly and initially in lower-risk Eastern Europe arenas....Hell's Bells the Russian even "skinned" some of the hardest-nosed and most flexible Czech investors who had ALL the contacts and knew the mentalitz thorugh (forced) historical association...if you don't know the territory and the players...well better not to begin.

(Author is the previous Director of the Department of Foreign Investment at the Ministry of Privatisation of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic and a practicing American attorney fluent in German, Russian, Czech and Slovak.)

I am a regular reader of your blog and really like...

2009-07-05T10:37:29.991-07:00

I am a regular reader of your blog and really like the idea of a fund investing in Agriculture.

I am just a bit worried about the real protection foreign investor have in Russia but I agree with you that this business in Russia is likely to produce nice return in the coming years. Myself I have some project in the Agriculture sector but not in Russia, in another emerging country that I will not mention for the moment given that my personal business are not already put in place (I think you could understand).

I will be happy to know how your project is evolving as in some case I would be interested to made some investments. I am part of a product development team inside a Private Bank and therefore and I will be interested to know if your Fund will be open to European investors.

Could you please keep me informed of the evolution of your project.

Dear Eric, I am truly sorry that my comments sound...

2009-07-02T07:41:42.026-07:00

Dear Eric,

I am truly sorry that my comments sounded to you like an insult, or an implied insult. I in no way think you are an idiot or a shyster, but an honest and intelligent person. I left those long comments because the only information I had about your fund idea was what you published here, and as of yesterday that was still rather slight.

I don’t believe that my pointing out of potential pitfalls should make you appear an idiot, since these pitfalls have been fallen into even by enormous, well-known, multinational corporations. (Over the last few months, I have been watching a $100 million Japanese investment near me here in Italy go bust, a bankruptcy that will do enormous damage to the parent company’s value on the Tokyo and Nagoya stock exchanges, and all of this because the people the parent company sent from Japan – who never even bothered to learn Italian – never really got out and got to know the territory or the people.)

I did not mean to suggest that you were thinking of setting up a Ponzi scheme: I merely wished to point out the possible difficulty involved in trying to prove to potential investors in the West that any business venture set up in far-off Russia via Russian-language documents cannot be a Ponzi scheme.

Russian has changed enormously. It is not Communi...

2009-07-02T00:58:41.940-07:00

Russian has changed enormously. It is not Communist anymore. Go there and you will be very surprized.

Russia is a communist country.. Isn't it dangerous...

2009-07-01T23:12:59.227-07:00

Russia is a communist country.. Isn't it dangerous? What if they acted like Venezuela, one day government seizing private company??

IMHO, I believe this is a valid argument to question this fund..

Eric, Mr. deCarbonnel, Your comments were most a...

2009-07-01T22:29:34.767-07:00

Eric,

Mr. deCarbonnel,

Your comments were most appropriately excellent, both in respect to Anton's insulting words and your informative and hedged response. If only my computer would allow me to send you an email indicating my absolute interest in an Ag/land investment opportunity in Russia. This is the best investment idea I heard from anyone for some time. If you could possibly, please send your email address to markbeth@comcast.net, so that I may share the depth of my financial interest in this idea with you.
Thanks,
Mark

Anton Kleutgen, I deleted your comments. To anyon...

2009-07-01T17:38:20.062-07:00

Anton Kleutgen, I deleted your comments.

To anyone else, if you doubt my competence or honesty, then say so outright instead of implying it under the guise of "help".

As example of what I mean, Anton Kleutgen said...
What exactly are the investors acquiring? Shares in an agricultural activity? Shares in a landholding? Shares in the produce yielded by the land?

AN INVESTMENT IN RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE! It isn't rocket science. The money raised will be used to aquire and farm Russian agricultural land. After 2 to 5 years, investors will get their money back via a strategic sale or IPO. If the value of agricutural land goes up, investors will make a large profit.

(I will delete comments which intentionally try to confuse a simple issue)

Unallocated land (which like unallocated gold – “paper gold” – can be open to fraud)? Allocated land?

Thank you, Kleutgen, for comparing my fund to the ponzi scheme being run by Wall Street banks.

(I will delete comments implying that I am a dishonest fraud.)

Essentially, I think Eric will need to have a thoroughly honest and experienced Russian citizen partner

Thank you again, Kleutgen. The only reason I would need a thoroughly honest and experienced Russian citizen partner IS IF I DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE HONEST AND EXPERIENCED RUSSIAN PARTNER. If I was trying to start a fun without honest and experienced Russian partner, that would make me REALLY incompetent wouldn't it?

(I will delete comments which try to portray me as an incompetent idiot.)

Sorry for the length. I am writing this not to discourage Eric

Then why did you compare my fund to a ponzi scheme and imply that I am an incompetent idiot?

If I sound annoyed. It is because I am. I hate backhanded complements.