Direct Real Estate Investments Fund, initially worth $300m, is being set up in Russia. The fund is the fruit of cooperation between the AFK Sistema, the biggest service-oriented company in Russia and CIS, Renova Group, Russia’s leading business in assets management and Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, a group of investment endowments financed and run by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc and its subsidiaries.
      
      The companies will run the fund on equal terms and invest mainly in commercial, office, elite housing and other Moscow-based projects.
      
      ОАО AFK Sistema was set up in 1993. The company now owns various firms in telecommunications (ОАО MTS, ОАО MGTS, MTU-Inform, Telmos, Golden Line, etc), electronics (Molecular Electronics R&D Institute and Mikron Plant along some other microelectronics enterprises), insurance (ROSNO), finances (Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development), real estate and construction (Sistema Gals), tourism (Intourist) and trade (Detsky Mir outlet).
      
      The group works for more than 50 million consumers. Its revenues totaled $5.7bn in 2004 and aggregate assets amounted to $8.8bn as of December 31, 2004. February 2005 saw its IPO on the London Stock Exchange earning the company some $1.56bn. Sistema’s shares are now listed on the London and Moscow Stock Exchanges and RTS.
      
      RENOVA Group is a major shareholder and strategic investor in many Russian companies and holdings in steel, oil, machinery, mining, chemical, construction, power, public utilities and financial businesses.
      
      RENOVA owns stakes in TNK-BP, ОАО SUAL Holding, ZАО Complex Energy Systems, Russian Kolzovo Airport placed in the city of Yekaterinburg, OAO Russian Communal Systems and Non-State Pension Fund. The group also features investment companies operating in real estate (Renova Development, Renova Stroi Group), portfolio investments (Direct Investments Fund) non-commercial assets (Corporate Development Institute).
      
      Goldman Sachs is a major international investment company operating in such areas as finances, securities and investment projects.