OREANDA-NEWS. December 28, 2009. Svyazinvest was declared the winner of the contest “Russian corporate governance leaders” in the category “Company which had the greatest impact on the development of corporate governance”.  In addition, the director general of Svyazinvest Evgeny Yurchenko received the top award in the category “Business reputation”. 

The competition “Russian corporate governance leaders” is held once a year by the Investor Protection Association (IPA).  The main purpose of this event is to encourage companies and managers to phase in and make use of the most advanced corporate governance practices in Russia.

Both Svyazinvest and Evgeny Yurchenko received honorable awards from the first time from IPA.  As the executive director of IPA Denis Kulikov pointed out, the Svyazinvest Group of companies devotes great attention to advanced corporate governance standards, and therefore the holding’s victory in the competition was fully comprehensible. 

“The personal contribution of Svyazinvest’s director general Evgeny Yurchenko deserves special mention in creating the company’s sterling business reputation and in building efficient investor relations”, Mr. Kulikov pointed out.

At present, Svyazinvest, RTOs and Rostelecom all have corporate governance committees attached to their boards of directors, and work is being done to phase in the institution of independent directors, while investor relations departments operate successfully.  What’s more, the Coordination Council has also been set up as an informal body in charge of upholding minority shareholders’ rights in the course of the restructuring of the Svyazinvest Group of companies.  It should also be noted that the Group’s companies regular receive high acclaim for their high level of information disclosure and transparency as well as operations with the investment community.  Thus, based on the results of information transparency in 2009, conducted by Standard & Poor's, Rostelecom ranked among the top ten leaders.

Speaking at the awards ceremony for the winners, Evgeny Yurchenko said: “We’re very pleased that our efforts in the field of corporate governance have received due recognition by the Investor Protection Association.  This high rating is further proof that we’re moving in the right direction”.