RDIF Establishes Pre IPO Co-Investor Programme with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Templeton Ahead of Moscow Listings

RDIF Establishes Pre IPO Co-Investor Programme with BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Templeton Ahead of Moscow Listings PR Newswire ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 21, 2012 ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A consortium of international investors consisting of BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, Templeton Asset Management Ltd. and the European Special Situations Group of Goldman Sachs International have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to establish a co-investor programme to work together in Pre IPO transactions for market leading Russian corporates. The investor consortium includes BlackRock (a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services worldwide), Templeton (a pioneer in emerging markets and one of the world's largest emerging and frontier markets investment teams), and Goldman Sachs (the world's leading investment bank and securities firm). Collectively, the three institutions have assets under management in excess of USD 5 trillion. The consortium, which will be co-ordinated by RDIF, will seek to make investments in Russian companies with annual revenues in excess of USD 500m that are planning to go public on the Moscow stock exchange MICEX-RTS within the next 6-18 months. Each investment will be decided upon by the programme co investors acting separately in their own discretion.