Euroinvest: Decades of Reliability

When the government of the Leningrad region began to look for companies that could guarantee the closure of long regional construction projects, the officials chose only six companies. One is Euroinvest Holding, which has long been known for its ability to see things through to the end, even when all the experts prophesied only bad things.

In 2019, Russian developers began transitioning from shared construction to project financing. This was a hard blow for the industry, with all the risks of examples such as  equity construction allowing developers to implement development projects as quickly as possible and at a minimal cost. Project financing virtually eliminates the potential risks of cheating shareholders but requires the developer to invest the total amount in construction in advance. 

This approach has led to the fact that all companies unable to guarantee the project’s completion have left the market. However, even among those who stayed, many were forced to devote all their energy and resources to current affairs, and financial reserves were simply not there. Therefore, the task that the Government of the Leningrad region has begun to address in the current environment is non-trivial. How to find a sufficient number of developers who have transitioned to project financing, have enough resources, and have a reliable reputation?

The secret is that Euroinvest is a large holding company. Development is the main means of its activity, but it is by no means the only line. Co-founder of the company, Andrey Berezin, spent his whole business career successfully solving the most challenging market problems. He was a winner in all cases, strengthening his company’s financial stability. 

As for its reputation, in October, Euroinvest was acknowledged as the most client-oriented developer in the Leningrad Region by the decision of the Union of Construction Associations and Organizations. For these reasons, the company is indeed a trump card for the region that can be used to solve accumulated problems. Therefore, it is logical that there have been many such cases. 

Development

One of the most compelling cases in the practice of Euroinvest is participation in developing two settlements in the suburbs of St. Petersburg: Kudrovo and Murino. A little more than ten years ago, they were a village with 150 people and a small town with a population of about 5 thousand. These are two cities with a population of more than 150 thousand, which is already a severe figure for the Leningrad region. For comparison, the largest city in the area does not even reach 100 thousand people. 

Such a large-scale development is a severe challenge to a developer. It was necessary to rebuild the entire city infrastructure, starting with the housing and utilities complex and ending with educational facilities. In both cases, Euroinvest took an active position in these instances. Thus, the housing and utilities complex is developing a daughter holding company Murino Management Company, which provides construction and management services for utility facilities. In particular, the company actively promotes green technology, allowing significant resource savings.

As for educational facilities, the developer initially designed its complexes with schools and kindergartens in mind. By now, almost all of them have been commissioned and are accepting children. In addition, the company has announced the construction of the newest academy for gifted children in a public-private partnership format; this project will be implemented at an equal distance from Kudrovo and Murino.

Road Infrastructure

The most important task that arises before the management of the new settlements inevitably is in transport development. The life of 150 thousand people is directly tied to St. Petersburg: most residents of Kudrovo and Murino work and study there. Meanwhile, the old infrastructure was not designed for such people, which provoked many kilometers of traffic jams.

Such problems are insurmountable for most developers, so they are addressed by regional authorities. Subsequently, the specifics of state funding can stretch construction for many years. That is why the Government of the Leningrad region suggested that the developers use the tool of public-private partnership and build an additional interchange from Murino to the St. Petersburg Ring Road. 

Euroinvest was among several developers who joined the project and was the only one to complete the project. The holding’s subsidiary, Murino Management Company, quickly turned from a construction coordinator into the sole investor, as Berezin described himself: “In the end, the interchange was built, but some developers did not fulfill their obligations to finance the project – some went bankrupt, and some failed […] MC Murino had to close these debts at their own expense. We coped with this task, although, I emphasize, this is a non-core business for us, and no one compensated our expenses.”  

Reintegration of Industrial Zones

For many Russian cities, the big problem is the fragments of Soviet infrastructure that have become unclaimed by the modern economy. These include military camps, abandoned industrial zones, and the housing stock of bankrupt enterprises. A striking example in this part is Vorkuta, whose population has more than halved over the past 30 years. Among other things, this is due to the closure of old Soviet industries.

The city authorities faced a complex problem: the fund, designed for 120 or more thousand people, now housed less than 60 thousand. The municipal infrastructure was operating at a considerable loss, and there wasn’t even enough money to keep the essential utilities up and running. The issue was critical, given the geographic location of the city. There was only one way out: to condense the construction and declare the released areas closed for residence. Now, around Vorkuta, some former workers’ settlements are abandoned. One of the neighborhoods in the city itself is closed.

This is definitely an acceptable way out for a relatively small worker’s settlement, but if a large city in the European part of the country faces a similar problem, no one will tolerate abandoned hangars in the city limits. Demolition and reintegration of dead city spaces are necessary. The process is highly time-consuming and financially expensive, not to mention the legal issues: it is impossible just to take a company’s property, demolish it and build a new foundation on this land.

Euroinvest is not afraid of such difficulties. One of the holding directions is the development of old industrial enterprises that find it hard to find their place in the competitive market. The company has a well-established algorithm of actions; buying back the necessary number of shares to join the management, taking stock of facilities, optimizing unprofitable assets, launching the investment program, developing and promoting new or upgraded products.

Optimization almost always includes the liquidation of old abandoned hangars, to which there can be many. For example, at one enterprise out of 100 shops from the Soviet times, three have survived in the working condition. The rest occupied an endless space in the city limits; buildings with rusty roofs and broken windows that attracted marginalized people of all sorts for years. These categories of lands were gradually transferred from industry to residential development, leading to the results of the joint efforts of several developers tearing down the hangars and building new residential complexes and park areas in its place.

It is practically impossible to solve this problem with the state’s efforts. On the contrary, such cases are further complicated by heavy bureaucratic barriers on the way to reintegrating the space. For example, such a scenario occurred about the Hollywood shopping mall, one of Euroinvest’s projects, whose concept was defended at a prestigious international exhibition in Canada. The essence of the project is not only to create a commercial facility, but also to complete one of the oldest of St. Petersburg’s longest-running cinemas, the movie theater Rus, which spoiled the appearance of the metro station Pionerskaya for over 30 years. 

It took several years to get a construction permit. As a result, Berezin withdrew from the project, leaving the concept for other investors to implement: “There are many other interesting things that require my attention, and they are much more important to me than creating a typical shopping center.” 

At the same time, the black hole in the city’s development would still be closed, with the center under construction currently and anticipated to be ready in 2023.

Venture Investments

Another area that is a big problem for the state is the radical outflow of venture investments from Russia. Experts say that virtually all international funds have left our country, and even Eastern and Asian investors are in no hurry to enter the emptied market. This is a significant problem because the philosophy of startups worldwide has provoked a new round of information technology development.

In Russia, the strategic importance of this direction is well understood. For example, at a recent conference on artificial intelligence, the president set the task of ensuring the mass introduction of artificial intelligence technology in every national project and state program. The aim is more than realizable, considering the boom of neural network development, but this requires a constant flow of highly professional staff skilled in these technologies. Unfortunately, the reserves of Sber and Yandex are hardly enough to cover such a large-scale sphere. 

Venture capital investments could help in this part, but their volume has decreased tenfold. The remaining share is almost entirely financed by state funds, which unfortunately have not changed much in response to all the challenges of the sanction’s wars. Therefore, the focus must remain on single domestic foundations that need serious resource and infrastructure support. This topic was discussed at the recently held Venture Festival in St. Petersburg.

It was held within the framework of the Barcamp forum National technological revolution 20.35. The event participants presented ten projects to potential investors, including Euroinvest. The organizers did not set out to select assignments on a specific topic, so participants covered all areas, from industrial process control software to recycling rubber-containing products.

“It is encouraging to note that all the startups were created by St. Petersburg developers, whose teams include a very high percentage of young specialists, including undergraduate and graduate students. I am deeply convinced that the inclusion of young scientists not only in the creation of scientific developments and innovations but also in the process of technology entrepreneurship is the basis for personnel and technological sovereignty of our country,” stated Berezin on his participation in the event.

Euroinvest was interested in one of the projects in the sphere of medicine hardware-software complex for the rehabilitation of patients after stroke. One of the subsidiaries of Euro Venture holding deals with the direction of venture investments. Its flagship project is a similar hardware and software complex for the treatment of oncological diseases.

Medicine

The project that Eurovenchur supports has an exciting history. As already mentioned, the company often develops old industrial enterprises. One tool that allows bringing their products to a competitive market is precisely venturing into capital investment. Euroinvest identifies promising developments and helps the authors through all stages of project implementation, from concept elaboration to the start of industrial production. In the case of the hardware complex, it took several years for the idea to move from theory to practice. 

Throughout this time, the concept was tested with the expert community, making amendments and considering the comments of practicing physicians. The development authors have already entered the stage of preclinical tests, and this autumn, it was installed in one of the leading Russian cancer centers.

The unique feature of the apparatus is the ability to perform two operations at the same time automatically: removing the tumor and irradiating the affected body tissues. This saves time and takes care of the patient’s health: previously, it was necessary to have a two-week rehabilitation period between these two surgeries. There are no analogs to this complex, and in the conditions of the sanction’s wars, it may become the critical medical equipment in our centers shortly.

Berezin has been involved in solving the most urgent problems of the company more than once, but we can be sure that this list will grow. Even the difficulties that came with the construction of the Murino interchange did not stop him from using PPP tools. This is a vivid example of how a company, sometimes even despite the circumstances, becomes an essential participant in the development of the entire state. Euroinvest should be supported in its efforts as much as possible. 

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