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Investment company A1, together with Alfa Bank and Alfa Capital, is creating a fund to invest in "special situations," including business assets abandoned by foreign investors. This was announced in an interview with RBC by A1 owner Alexander Fain.

Fain says the size of the fund will be up to RUB 30 billion. Alfa Bank will act as the anchor investor, Alfa Capital will manage the assets, and A1, as the managing partner, will be responsible for "finding, selecting and managing special situations, resolving disputes and, ultimately, monetisation."

The fund will look for "stressed assets that happen to be in special situations." "These include conflicts between owners, leveraged companies, and owners who are tired of managing their assets. In addition, some Western companies have quit Russia and left behind businesses that are incapable of operating effectively, for example. We will select them and give them a new lease of life," Fain said.

Discussing foreign businesses in Russia, Fain said that most Western companies didn't want to leave the country in 2022. "Who wanted to leave? Can you imagine how much money they were making in Russia? Billions, tens of billions! Russia is a readily understandable and very large market for Western companies," he said.

Fain put their departure down to political pressure, adding that "some have remained under various pretexts" and "are creating the appearance that they have given up their capital." Fain believes that foreign business will return to Russia in the foreseeable future. "Everyone will come back. It will happen. I think we will get back to the former status quo within the next 3-5 years. After all, we're talking big profits," he said.