OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2008. As part of it its strategy to develop its investment bank, VTB announces a further hire to strengthen its team.

Victor Makshantsev will head up the Infrastructure and Real Estate Fund Management Division of the Investment bank. Victor will join VTB on 14 April 2008. Previously he worked for Deutsche Bank Moscow, where he was responsible for Real Estate and Infrastructure projects. The track record of Victor`s team at Deutsche Bank includes such landmark transactions as the financing of the Hotel Moscow reconstruction, the Europark deal on the Rublevskoe highway, the Nevsky Passage shopping mall financing in St. Petersburg, and the creation of DB Development, a joint venture between Deutsche Bank and Strabag to realize large infrastructure and development projects, among others. The overall value of the deals successfully closed exceeds USD 2 billion.

It will be a separate business division directly reporting to the Head of the Investment Bank. The VTB IREF team will be made up of experienced professionals from major investment banks.

Initially, the main focus will be placed on Russia and other CIS countries; however, the business will be gradually expanded into other regions with an emphasis on EMEA, China and the countries of South East Asia. There is already a pipeline of investment projects, which the newly formed team plans to begin working on, with priority to be given to electricity generation and transmission, port and airport infrastructure, water utilities and toll roads.