OREANDA-NEWS. December 11, 2012. Sberbank of Russia has signed a Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation with InvestAD. InvestAD is an asset manager of the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, reported the press-centre of Sberbank.

The signing is aimed at developing co-operation across the following areas: increased access for Sberbank and InvestAD clients to capital markets in the Middle East and Russia respectively, exploration of new investment opportunities, trade financing, asset management, trading in global capital markets and mutual information and legal support in new geographies.

Co-operation between Sberbank and InvestAD began in 2009, when the bank and the company became the co-investors in the Krasnaya Polyana Olympic project.

Sberbank’s Chairman Herman Gref, commenting on the signing, said, “Sberbank today is an international banking group with a presence in all major financial markets across the Russia, CIS, Europe and Asia regions. The Middle East is a crucial region, and as such it is important that we establish a presence there. A new market can offer considerable opportunities to us and within this we realize that a reliable and capable partner is needed. We have worked with InvestAD for a number of years in Russia, and our partnership has proved highly successful. Therefore, we have decided to expand our cooperation, incorporating far-reaching and ambitious goals.”

Invest AD’s Chief Executive Officer, Nazem Fawwaz Al Kudsi, said the partnership with Russia’s biggest bank would add great value to Both businesses. He commented: "Sberbank is a great bank with a strong ownership, rich history and compelling vision, and we are honored to be partners with them. We look forward to extending their clients' reach into the Middle East and Africa, and to encouraging investment flows from the Middle East into the exciting opportunities available in the fast-growing Russian economy."