Just three weeks after announcing its long-awaited initial public offering plans, O1 Properties, an owner of high-end office complexes in Moscow, is abandoning its IPO because of roiling stock markets. Blame it on the Greeks. Just three weeks after announcing its long-awaited initial public offering plans, O1 Properties...

Emerging economies like Russia have long been the bane of industries dependent on intellectual property rights, such as the software industry. Sixty-five percent of software in Russia is stolen, Bloomberg reported last year. The country's accession to the WTO, however, has already resulted in important steps to more effectively enforce intellectual property rights, said Michael Malloy, head of the intellectual property and technology practice at DLA Piper in Russia. Emerging economies like Russia...

A division of the United States Commerce Department on Monday put Russia on its annual listing of countries with the poorest intellectual property rights protection, for the 16th year in a row. A division of the United States Commerce Department on Monday put Russia on its annual listing of countries with the poorest intellectual property rights protection, for the 16th year in a row. "While Russia made important progress in the past year to improve...

... the right to increase it. In any event, according to ministry documents, the final rates and deductions can only be determined after the nationwide evaluations are complete. In each of the 12 regions where evaluations have been done, not more than 600 properties of 300 million rubles or more have been found, deputy head of the Federal Tax Service Svetlana Bondarchuk told Vedomosti. In Moscow, about 15 to 20 deals with property worth more than $10 million take place per year, and in St. Petersburg about...

On April 3 this year, a draft amending the Civil Code of the Russian Federation — one of the cornerstones of Russia's legal system — was introduced into the State Duma. The draft represented the work of more than 4 years for teams of legislators and lawyers, running to 461 pages, encompassing the most significant revision to civil legislation in a generation, with the introduction of new institutions and rules, as well as amending and updating many existing ones. Andrey Goltsblat...

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation has not undergone major revisions for more than 15 years. In that time, there have been fundamental changes to the economy and laws governing commercial activities. The need for amendments and updates to "the second most important law after the Constitution" has become obvious. These amendments are intended to improve the economy and investment climate in Russia. Florian Schneider, LL.M. Rechtsanwalt (Attorney-at-Law) Managing Partner, Moscow...

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has ordered prosecutors to investigate the "illegal" privatization of property assets belonging to the Yakovlev and Tupolev aviation firms. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has ordered prosecutors to investigate the "illegal" privatization of property assets belonging to the Yakovlev and Tupolev aviation firms. Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, issued the order Monday after Gleb Nikitin, chief...

VTB board member Olga Dergunova will be appointed to head the Federal Property Management Agency, Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing unnamed government sources. VTB board member Olga Dergunova will be appointed to head the Federal Property Management Agency, Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing unnamed government sources. Documents confirming the nomination are not yet draw up, but her candidacy is the most realistic and she has the support of First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov...

Real estate investment company O1 Properties said it aims to raise about $425 million from a London stock market listing to invest in Moscow's booming commercial property market. O1 Properties, set up by former directors at Moscow brokerage Otkritie, on Tuesday announced a price range...

A Moscow court on Monday finally ordered the release of seized property that belonged to former-Yukos vice president Vasily Alexanyan, who died last October long after charges against him had been dropped. A Moscow court on Monday finally ordered the release of seized property that belonged to former Yukos vice president Vasily Alexanyan, who died last October long after charges against him had been dropped, Interfax reported. Alexanyan's family will now be able to use...

Under the proposed amendments to the Civil Code, a rather significant number of limited real rights are introduced, an exhaustive list of which is set out in Article 223 of the draft Civil Code (the "Draft Civil Code"). These restrictions include a right of permanent possession of land (Chapter 20); a right to develop land (Chapter 201); servitudes (Chapter 202); a right of personal use and enjoyment (Chapter 203); mortgage (Chapter 204); a right to acquire another person's immovable property...

... relation to the figures recorded in February. In general, the quantity of requests in the first quarter of 2012 was 13 percent higher than the figures recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011. The greatest interest by potential tenants is concentrated on properties located in districts such as Tverskaya–Kremlin (15 percent), Arbat–Kropotkinskaya (12 percent) and Leningradsky Prospekt (10.5 percent). The increased interest to two-room properties recorded in the end of 2011 remained in the first...

... representing modest additional revenue, he said. Owners of jumbo or pricey housing, or a collection of residences, will also eventually have to pay more. While the standard rate will be 0.05 percent of a property's value, for owners of a property or set of properties that are cumulatively worth upward of 100 million rubles the rate will double, Shatalov said. The rate will jump sixfold for properties that are worth more than 300 million rubles. He didn't say exactly when the rule will begin to apply, but...

... from around 30 percent in limited service hotels and all-suite hotels to approximately 46 percent at resorts or convention hotels. Needless to say, when the economy tanks and hotel revenues decrease, shedding staff is crucial to the survival of many properties.  But if redundancies are often temporary adjustments to economic cycles, a deeper, structural movement is at work today as well. The service sector, which is the last great bastion of human workers, is succumbing to more and more automation...

The $982.5 million sale of four development properties, including two luxury hotels, is moving Bidzina Ivanishvili a step closer to becoming a presidential candidate in Georgia and the Gutseriyev-Shishkhanov family closer to seizing the luxury hotel market in Moscow...

A<span id="bxid_911674"> prosecutor </span>report said more than $320 million worth of<span id="bxid_911674"> </span>illegally obtained property and<span id="bxid_911674"> </span>funds had been seized as a<span id="bxid_911674"> </span>result of<span id="bxid_911674"> </span>requests to<span id="bxid_911674"> </span>foreign governments, including real estate in France...

The Moscow Mayor's Office reached a settlement in a dispute over the Yevropeisky shopping center that will bring it 2.5 billion rubles ($80.2 million). The Moscow Mayor's Office reached a settlement in a dispute over the Yevropeisky shopping center that will bring it 2.5 billion rubles ($80.2 million), members of the city administration said. Yevropeiskaya Ploshchad, which manages Yevropeisky and owns 50,233 square meters of it, will issue new shares and, as a result, the city's...

A firm with ties to the Defense Ministry has landed in hot water over the sale of real estate in a prime neighborhood in the southern city of Samara, with a federal agency saying the price tag was far too low. A firm with ties to the Defense Ministry has landed in hot water over the sale of real estate in a prime neighborhood in the southern city of Samara, with a federal agency saying the price tag was far too low, Kommersant reported. Following the auction of about 5,200 square meters of land...

... isn't part of a residential complex, hearings "aren't required." New Approaches The full effect of Law No. 12 will only be clear over time, but now, at least one city agency is also taking a creative approach to actually help preserve historic properties. In what preservationists are cautiously hailing as a positive step, authorities are attracting private funding for restoring sites through auctions and special leases. On April 25 the city carried out the first auction in a program that...

... on a high-quality house of 150 square meters to 200 square meters made of brick or wood and located 30 to 40 kilometers outside of Moscow, she said. But she warned that prices might go up this month because some landlords who had sought to lease out properties for a long term are likely to change their strategy and decide in favor of a short-term lease, which guarantees an income for three to five months. Short-term leasing of property involves more risks than long-term leasing, since tenants living...