Today in Russian Business – April 15, 2011

Mobile-phone retailer Euroset (or Yevroset) has postponed its IPO, apparently after investors found the price too high.  The WSJ notes that two other IPO deals have been postponed in the last week due to poor market conditions, but property developer Etalon Group has completed a successful London IPO, bringing in $575 million.  EBRD, originally set up in 1991 to fund the rebuilding of Russia and the country’s biggest international investor last year, is considering extending its lending to North Africa and the Middle East.  Sberbank is holding out a carrot to investors, saying it plans on increasing dividend payouts ‘in several years‘.  A $470 million art fund, Russia’s first, has been launched on the Moscow stock exchange. Vladimir Putin has lambasted the Ministry of Agriculture for a delay in farmers’ subsidies.  A major Russian cyber crime ring thought to be responsible for $100 million worth of theft has been shut down by U.S. officials. On the trade in Russian hair, bought cheaply in Moscow and sold for large premiums in London.