Rusforest to expand its business in Russia through acquiring processing assets

   Moscow. Jan 29, 2010. /Lesprom Network/. Rusforest company (major shareholder of the company is Sweden’s Vostok Nafta investment fund) is planning to expand its business in Russia by acquiring assets in the timber processing sector, as the company’s Chief Executive Officer Alexander Williams announced in an interview to Lesnaya Industriya journal.

At the Forest summit held in St. Petersburg in November Rusforest’s CEO Alexander Williams managed to solve the problem of energy supply of the company’s enterprises in Krasnoyarsk region by appealing to Russia’ Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. ‘As I told Mr Putin, the major problem is now in everyday barriers for the business in the region. Energy supply is one of the characteristic examples. Vladimir Putin promised to regard the situation and kept his promise. He discussed the matter with the Minister for Industry and Trade Mr Khristenko, and the wheels of state started working. In two or three weeks after the Russian-Finnish forum the matter was generally solved’, Alexander Williams said in his interview, ‘It is common knowledge that these problems are to some extent linked with bribery which is present in Russia. All things can be solved using money, which differs from other countries, here in Russia the situation is much more complicated’.

Rusforest’s chief executive is going to double his business in Russia and regards a possibility of acquiring some wood processing assets ‘dealing with pulpwood or wood chips’. The company planned to increase sawn timber production to 200,000 cubic meters in 2009.

Rusforest AB manages harvesting and processing enterprises in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions. The company’s forest fund comprises 1.6 million cubic meters, equity capital makes up $100 million.

Additional information: Rusforest