Today in Russian Business – June 10, 2008

Using the Diva clothing store as a case study, this article looks at some of the problems facing Russia’s small businesses. Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Peugeot Citroen will initially invest €470 million euros ($730 million) in a joint venture in Russia to produce cars from 2011. Brewer SABMiller agreed to buy Vladpivo to expand in Russia’s Far East region. Foreign investors are reacting with “cautious optimism” to top officials’ calls for loosening the state’s grip on the economy at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum over the weekend. “They said a lot of what we wanted to hear.” St. Petersburg’s real estate market still lags behind that of Moscow. Real estate developer PIK Group plans to spend more than $3 billion building “high-class living space” there.