Today in Russian Business – Feb 4, 2011

According to Reuters, PepsiCo has completed its acquisition of 66% of Wimm-Bill-Dann, representing its grand entry into the Russian market, and said it expects to make an offer for the remaining shares by March 11.  The company plans to pay $132 a share for the remaining piece.  Russia’s richest woman, Yelena Baturina, may be questioned as part of a $440 million embezzlement probe as business dealings in Moscow during her husband Yury Luzhkov’s reign as mayor face scrutiny.  Russian investigators have brought attempted bribery charges against the former director of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.  Sberbank has appraised investment bank Troika Dialog at $1.25 billion ahead of its intended purchase, Vedomosti has reported; Russia’s largest lender may acquire 80% of the company for $1 billion today.  Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group Ltd. may sell its stake in Troika Dialog for $360 million.  Thanks to Sberbank, ‘Russia has a BRIC of its own’: BURK.   Russian coking coal producer KOKS has reportedly put its IPO on hold due to market conditions.  Supermarket chain Dixy Group has agreed to buy rival Victoria Group for $680 million, excluding debt.  According to the Moscow Times, investors have argued that Russia’s privatization drive should be further reaching and that businesses should be sold at 100%.  A report from the Edelman Trust Barometer says that Russia’s elite are the least likely out of 22 nations to trust their country’s business institutions.