THAT London’s biggest share offering should be the vehicle of a Russian oligarch may say more about Britain’s dearth of opportunity than it does about change in Russia.
Still, the London Stock Exchange will be grateful that Sistema chose the City and yesterday other Russians were in town, rallying support for Russian equities.
Boris Fedorov, a former Russian Finance Minister and now chairman of United Financial Group, the Moscow brokerage, dismissed those who see the Yukos affair as evidence of a KGB takeover.
He suggested that the recent shocks were signs of Russia’s transition from the chaos of oligarch capitalism in the 1990s.
Referring to recent panics over large tax claims, he said: “When I was in the Tax Ministry I can remember no one