Loss of the year

The unprecedented events of 2008 prevented our traditional selection of Deals of the Year. It hardly makes sense to celebrate any mergers and acquisitions (although there have been some) in an environment where experts are counting record volumes of canceled M&A deals. Losses, damages, write-offs, margin calls - these words defined the essence of what happened in 2008 and, apparently, will remain with us in the coming year. Russian business (both private and public), which has been intensively developing in recent years using borrowed funds, is especially painfully experiencing a whole set of negative factors - a credit squeeze on a global scale, a decline in demand and prices for Russian exports, and a decline in the domestic market.

Those who have developed the fastest suffer the most. This is primarily Oleg Deripaska. Back in the spring, he could celebrate leadership in the Russian Forbes list, a large-scale expansion of his areas of activity, impressive prospects... But he has already lost some foreign assets as a result of margin calls and, according to unofficial data, is even considering the sale of a controlling stake in Ingosstrakh, for undivided control in which he has been fighting for the last year and a half.

“We will live well, but modestly,” Mr. Deripaska said in a recent interview. Probably not everyone will survive. But, hopefully, in a year the Vremya Novostey newspaper will again be able to return to its tradition and highlight the most successful transactions.

The page was prepared by Natalya ROMANOVA, Irina TSYRULEVA, Nikolay KOCHELYAGIN, Mikhail KUKUSHKIN, Andrey DENISOV