Columbia FDI Profile No. 1 - Outward FDI from Russia

New York - The Vale Columbia Center is launching Columbia FDI Profiles, a new series of concise electronic publications on foreign direct investment data and policy developments. The series will highlight in standardized format current developments in FDI inflows and outflows at the country level and the policy context in which they take place. The series will comprise separate profiles of inward and outward FDI for individual countries, drafted by country experts.

The first Profile is on OFDI from Russia, authored by Andrei Panibratov and Kalman Kalotay. Outward FDI from Russia often surprises outside observers by its landmark deals. One of them was the purchase in September 2009 of a 55% stake in General Motors’ German affiliate Opel by a consortium of the Canadian car maker Magna and the Russian state-owned bank Sberbank. With this deal, Russia has bought into the industrial heartland of the world economy and could potentially access more advanced technology. This acquisition hints at the growth of Russian OFDI in general, which has prospered despite fears in many host countries that the investors are subject to Russian political interference, a fear that recently announced Russian policy intentions may allay.