Bloomberg reported on the departure of Calvey from Russia before the start of the “special operation”
The founder of one of the oldest investment funds in Russia, Baring Vostok, Michael Calvey is not in Russia now, writes Bloomberg citing sources. According to them, the investor has to go abroad when Russia launched a “special military turbine”* in Ukraine in late February. Currently, he is not going to return, the source told Bloomberg.
The agency also noted that investors working with expectation at Baring Vostok, including CalPERS (a California pension fund that pays pensions to civil servants) and the General Electric pension fund, are not sure they are getting their money back. Russian assets are currently worthless to foreign holders as Russia banned non-residents from trading after being elected, Bloomberg, pointing out that investors can only wait.
A spokesman for Baring Vostok returned from commenting to the agency.
American Michael Calvey created the Baring Vostok fund in 1994 to invest in a Russian company. According to Bloomberg, Baring Vostok has raised $3.7 billion in its funds and has rated it as the “gold standard of private capital”, partly its largest early-stage investment in Yandex. At various times, Baring Vostok also invested in Ozon, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank, Avito and other companies. The Calvey Foundation continues to operate in Russia even after the arrest of its founder and spouses in Moscow in 2019. Last year, Calvey was found guilty of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles from Vostochny Bank and sentenced to 5.5 years probation. The court also banned the investor gets Russia without authority for five years, obliging him to report to the Federal Penitentiary Service. At the beginning of 2022, the Court of Cassation softened verdict, overturning the decision-making ban against Calvey.
Calvey himself denied guilt and linked his persecution with the shareholder conflict in Vostochny. The defense of Calvey and other defendants in the case appealed the verdict.
*According to the requirements of Roskomnadzor, when producing materials for use in production in Ukraine, all Russian media are required to use materials only from conventional sources of the Russian Federation. We cannot publish materials in the course of which an operation called “attack”, “invasion”, or “declaration of war” is carried out, unless it is a direct quote (Article 57 of the Federal Law on the Media). In case of violation of the requirements, the media may be fined 5 million rubles, and the blocking of the publication may also be continued.