August 28, 2010MoscowParticipation in «Stock show: Fashion OUTLET» exhibitionClothing, footwear and accessories exhibition «Stock show: Fashion OUTLET» was held 26-28 of August at All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC) in Moscow. GVA Sawyer Consulting Vice President, Partner, Evelina Pavlovskaya, took part at the Exhibition. Clothing, footwear and accessories exhibition «Stock show: Fashion OUTLET» was held 26-28 of August at All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC) in Moscow. GVA Sawyer Consulting Vice President, Partner, Evelina Pavlovskaya, took part at the Exhibition wuth the Slide Show «International Practice in Outlet Centers’ Development». This Exhibition is the first attempt to introduce and to classify stocktaking sale in Russia. Recently this business has appeared in Russia. During last 8 years it was steadily growing and became well known throughout the country. Stock-taking sale is especially important in the conditions of the sluggish market with its new needs and demands. Today customers’ demand on the new reasonably priced fashionable clothes is growing and the professionals are especially interested in building of the system of stocktaking sale.What principles of discounting do trade operators use? What kind of relations are between the participants in the stock-taking market? How to enter this business? What are the perspectives for the new trade outlets’ formats in Russia? These and other questions were under discussion in the round table «Problems, tendencies and perspectives of stocktaking sale». August 09, 2010Moscow«Victoria» in «Severnoe Siyanie»Grocery supermarket «Victoria» opens in the shopping and entertainment centre «Severnoe Siyanie» that is located near «Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo» metro station. GVA Sawyer as the broker of the project has signed long term lease agreement with «Victoria» Group of companies. Supermarket with total area of around 2000 sq.m. will be situated in the basement of new shopping and entertainment centre «Severnoe Siyanie» Grocery supermarket «Victoria» opens in the shopping and entertainment centre «Severnoe Siyanie» that is located near «Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo» metro station. GVA Sawyer as the broker of the project has signed long term lease agreement with «Victoria» Group of companies. Supermarket with total area of around 2000 sq.m. will be situated in the basement of new shopping and entertainment centre «Severnoe Siyanie» This is a second shop of the chain that will be working in Butovo District. Olga Cheparova, Head of Retail Real Estate Department of GVA Sawyer, noted that in spite of a number of grocery super- and giper- markets operating in the district, «Victoria» is very popular among the residents due to its quality and a wide range of goods. Shopping and entertainment centre «Severnoe Siyanie» is located in the 4th micro-district of Severnoe Butovo in 300 m walk from «Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo» metro station.Shopping and entertainment centre is constructed in the densely populated residential settlement, in close proximity to several social institutions – school, children school of fine arts, underground and ground metro stations.Total area of the shopping and entertainment centre «Severnoe Siyanie» is 20 000 sq.m. This is 4-level centre with underground parking for 105 car lots.The main feature of the shopping and entertainment centre is the first in the district 5-halls 3D Cinema, located on the 2 floor. In addition, a concept of shopping and entertainment centre provides placing an entertainment centre for children, restaurant patio with a summer terrace and a shopping mall with famous brands. Today practically all federal operators are interested in this project.Olga Cheparova noted, that a conception of the shopping centre with multiplex cinema, large entertainment area and a popular supermarket will bring notable success to «Severnoe Siyanie».The opening of shopping and entertainment centre is scheduled on 4Q 2010. August 06, 2010RussiaGVA Sawyer offers new service for banking structures and developersGVA Sawyer offers new service for banking structures and developers. Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer and Chairman of Expert Council in Guild of Property Managers and Developers (GUD) on assets capitalization of financial institutions is the head of this new business line. Please find all details here: Services for banking structures and developers GVA Sawyer offers new service for banking structures and developers. Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer and Chairman of Expert Council in Guild of Property Managers and Developers (GUD) on assets capitalization of financial institutions is the head of this new business line. Please find all details here: Services for banking structures and developersDuring the crisis banking secure deposits have lost their value and liquidity. This stimulated the interest in attracting specialists from the real estate sphere for solving questions concerning rise of capitalization and realization of returned banking assets.GVA Sawyer provides full-spectrum development services for investment and banking structures: Full-range audit of the project, property (due diligence) Drawing a perspective plan of asset managementAsset management Technical monitoringPlease find more details about each service in the section Services for banking structures and developers July 30, 2010RussiaInternational Real Estate Investment forum PROEstate 2010, 8-10 September, St. PetersburgInternational Investment Forum PROEstate is a multi-format and multi-disciplinary event focusing on urban development and real estate market. The GVA Sawyer booth will be presented at this forum in 2010 as well as in all previous years. International Investment Forum PROEstate is a multi-format and multi-disciplinary event focusing on urban development and real estate market. The GVA Sawyer booth will be presented at this forum in 2010 as well as in all previous years. The Forum is organized by the Ministry of Regional Development, the Government of St. Petersburg and the Guild of Property Managers and Developers.PROEstate ambition is to continue as the main B2B forum of authorities, investors and real estate professionals. of Northern and Eastern Europe. PROEstate 2010 is planned as the forum of winners surviving through the crisis and benefiting from it by finding new advantages and discovering new qualities.Investors, developers, managers, consultants and architects from all-over Russia will come to PROEstate to present their projects, find new partners and offer state-of-the-art services. Diverse formats of PROEstate events include exhibitions, conferences and professional workshops hospitably accommodated on the St. Petersburg LenExpo premises. The event-packed forum agenda will be combined with tailor-made business sightseeing program. PROEstate is a priority item on the agenda of Russian political elite. The top-level executives from the RF Government and Russian regions will make the keynote speeches to set the strategy and dynamics for the Russian real estate market development in 2010 and years to come.PROEstate events:The largest B2B exhibition of Russia-CIS projects and servicesConference program including more than 25 eventsOpen auction of St. Petersburg properties for saleInvestors ClubSite visits to commercial real estate projects of St. PetersburgCharitable auction “Present the Future”Presentation of “Classification of Russian business centers “ and other projectsFIABCI AwardsGreen AwardsPROEstate Media AwardsPress eventsReception on behalf of the Governor of St. PetersburgPROEstate statistics:3000 participants130 exhibitors40 regions30 events3 competitionsAudience of the Conference Program:Federal and regional authorities (Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Energy, federal agencies and authorities, governors of cities and regions, committees and departments on charge of urban development, construction, architecture, investment etc)Investment and financial institutions (international investment funds, Russian investment funds, private investors, international and Russian banks)Development, investment and construction companies (residential and commercial real estate)Consulting and managing companiesRetailers, hotel operatorsBuilding contractorsLegal advisors July 29, 2010MoscowThe participation in the meeting of the Committee of Managers and Developers Guild of regional developmentV.A.Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer, will participate as a speaker in the meeting of the Committee on regional development of Managers and Developers Guild, which will be held in Moscow on August 4th. Alexander Sharapov, Chairman of Committee, Vice-President of the Guild, President of NAI Becar, will participate in the meeting as a moderator. V.A.Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer, will participate as a speaker in the meeting of the Committee on regional development of Managers and Developers Guild, which will be held in Moscow on August 4th. Alexander Sharapov, Chairman of Committee, Vice-President of the Guild, President of NAI Becar, will participate in the meeting as a moderator. Participants of the meeting of the Committee on regional development will discuss the following questions:the support of the Guild of regional business;the support for promotion of important business concept in a particular region;mutually beneficial cooperation with professional developers, managers and consultants from different regions of Russia, including international networks, for example GVA and NAI;an exclusive exchange of information on the metropolitan and regional markets, investments and real estate in Russia and foreign countries.Daily program:16.00 – 17.00Business tour for the only specialized children’s Shopping Centre “Airbus” in Moscow. Participants of the business-tour will report about the system of management, promotion, exploitation of the object. 17.00 – 19.00Matters for discussion in the meeting of the Committee on regional development:Business tour PRO Estate. Receiving feedback on the most interesting units, requests for invitees. Business opportunities and relevance checkup. Speaker - Alexandr Sharapov, President of NAI Becar, Vice-President of the Guild.Regional real estate market: investments, tendencies, perspectives (exchange of the relevant information). General trends of Western and Russian markets. Possibilities of attracting investments for regional projects.Speakers: Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer and Dmitriy Sorokoletov, Director of Investment Sales Department of NAI Becar.The Guild as a business resource: Foundation and development of representative offices of the Guild in regions. Speaker - Alexandr Sharapov, President of NAI Becar, Vice-President of the Guild. July 07, 2010Saint PetersburgParticipating in a “Big Consulting ’10” Forum “Big Consulting ‘10” Forum took place in Saint Petersburg, on July 2-3. Dmirty Kucheryavykh, Head of Assets Appraisal and Analysis Department, participated in the forum activity from our company. He made a presentation: “Appraisal of Russian assets concept for foreign investors” in plenary session “Investment Property Appraisal. Growth expectation?”“Big Consulting ‘10” Forum took place in Saint Petersburg, on July 2-3. Dmirty Kucheryavykh, Head of Assets Appraisal and Analysis Department, participated in the forum activity from our company. He made a presentation: “Appraisal of Russian assets concept for foreign investors” in plenary session “Investment Property Appraisal. Growth expectation?”Dmitry Kucheryavykh has also written an article for the magazine “Valuation Activities”, published by SIAA (Self-regulating Interregional Appraisers Association). The discussion session went in the work environment; presentations caused lively debates in the audience and numerous questions for speakers. There were considered both theoretical and practical issues of investment property appraisal. In attendance there were both contractors and performers of the assessment work.The discussion guidelines of the Forum BC ’10:Changes to legislation on the rates. Is the market ready? Cadastral appraisal of lands and property. What are the prospects?Investment property appraisal. Growth expectation?Rate manipulation in bankruptcy proceedings. Economic security?High-Tech business appraisal. How much does the future cost?In the Forum there were also involved representatives of The Federation Council and the State Duma of The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation; Constitutional and The Supreme Arbitration Court of The Russian Federation; MEDT and Ministry of Finance of Russia; Ministry for Regional Development of The Russian Federation and The RF Ministry of Energy; FTS of Russia; Federal Antimonopoly Service; The Federal Agency for State Property Management; The State Register of The Russian Federation; Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic Supervision; Russian Banker’s Association; Regional Bank “Russia” Association; self-regulating organizations; the major consumers of professional services; international organizations.The Forum BC ’10 was held under the auspices of The National Council of valuation activities and Russian National Union of audit, evaluation, expert, consulting organizations. We would like to thank all sponsors participated in such an interesting event! July 06, 2010RussiaParticipation in Summit CRE Awards 2010Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer and Evelina Pavlovskaya, Vice President for Consulting, took part in the 4th Annual Summit CRE St.- Petersburg & Federal Awards. Mrs. Setskaya was a moderator of two sections of the business program: «Conversion of the property – is there an economic sense?» and «Simplification of the legislation in construction industry». Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer and Evelina Pavlovskaya, Vice President for Consulting, took part in the 4th Annual Summit CRE St.- Petersburg & Federal Awards. Mrs. Setskaya was a moderator of two sections of the business program: «Conversion of the property – is there an economic sense?» and «Simplification of the legislation in construction industry».As a main moderator of the section «Conversion of the property – is there an economic sense?», Vera Setskaya discussed with other participants the following topics: Conversion in practice: is it widely used by developers? Does it depend only on crisis? What does global experience like?Technical and legal difficulties: problems with replanning, engineering systems, approvals and legal status Financial costs: how much does it cost and is the game worth the candle?Conversion into a hotel: is such building acceptable for an operator? What are conditions for conversion the building into a hotel? Planning, engineering.How much does it cost to modernize the building into the green one?Discussion on «Simplification of the legislation in construction industry» took place on 2 July. During the workshop following questions were discussed:Russian Construction Norms and Regulations (SNIPs) against the international ones: what are the most strict?Do the SNIPs meet the requirements of the new construction technologies?Regulations in high-rise constructionCIS Countries – Kazakhstan, Russia revise their construction norms – does Russia follow this way?Problems which faces the constructor during the design-phase The necessity of simplification the procedure of obtaining the building permissionThe problems in connecting to engineering and technical lines, electrical networksEvelina Pavlovskaya, Vice President for Consulting, as a participant of the Summit took an active part in its business program and was one of the singers of the CRE Awards Hymn at the Awards Ceremony. During the Summit there were represented 103 commercial real estate properties in different market segments. July 05, 2010MoscowGVA Sawyer has analyzed the demand on office real estate GVA Sawyer and KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services, have interviewed several major companies in Moscow and St. Petersburg to find a connection between the general economic characteristics of the companies’ activity, their prospects in the next 6-12 months and demand in the office real estate market on A and B+/B Class properties. GVA Sawyer and KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services, have interviewed several major companies in Moscow and St. Petersburg to find a connection between the general economic characteristics of the companies’ activity, their prospects in the next 6-12 months and demand in the office real estate market on A and B+/B Class properties. According to the conducted research the following conclusions can be drawn:42% of the respondents had no changes in expenditures connected with office real estate in 2009. 35% of the companies noted, that they have managed to reduce costs by means of the rent rate. 12% noted that they managed to sublease some of the premises. The situation in construction and development sectors is completely different. Only in 13% of the cases the rent rate was reduced and there were no changes in 74% of the cases. It is possibly connected with the fact that companies in this sector have their own offices. In B2B sector the majority of the companies (than in general population) have optimized their expenditures connected with real estate (10%) and managed to sublease the premises (20%). There is strong and evident connection between personnel reduction and cost reduction on the real estate. Among the companies which conducted reductions in the current year (including the further stuff recruitment) 50% of the companies managed to cut their costs on the real estate due to the rent rate reduction. Income of the 78% of the companies reduced in the current year, 11% of the companies had no changes in income, the rest 11% had growth of income. Majority of the companies (57%) do not intend to make changes in their costs on the office real estate. Among the companies that have managed to reduce their costs on real estate due to the rent rate reduction in 2009 there were companies with various types of personnel policy.In the nearest future none of the companies have plans to reduce their personnel. 42% of the respondents plan to make additional personnel recruitment. For example, in construction and development sectors 63% of the responders plan to make personnel recruitment. However 70% of the companies in investment and financial sectors have no plans to recruit new personnel. For the lessor such tendency indicates the substantial potential for growth of the rates in the midterm. During the crisis many of the lessors reached a compromise with their tenants by reducing and/or fixing rates for the certain period (6 or 12 months). It can be expected that after this period the rates may start to grow, however it is evidentially that the tenants do not want to change their costs on the real estate (57% of the respondents). In the current year the activity in the office real estate market will be first of all due to the move in more qualitative offices without budget changes. Increase in rent rates will not exceed the rate of inflation. We can stand that the reduction of rates has already ended and today there is no pressure from the tenants in the further reducing of the rent rates, as it was in 2008-2009. The medium-seized companies are the most stable in the context of income. The respondents from the large companies have changes in income (they have increase as well as decrease).In the next year the majority of the interviewed companies plan to increase their income. None of the responders expects the reduction in income. This goes to prove the forthcoming recovery for the Russian business. Among the companies that increase their profits in 2009 practically all of the responders (85%) expect the further increase of income. In vast majority of the companies planning to attract the strategic investor it was the reduction of income in 2009. In the future it is not expected the further reduction in income, however it is expected the structural business changes connected with purchasing of the companies and/or the assets. In recent years around 30% of the companies conducted quite conservative financial policy. These companies didn’t make massive investment to the real estate, they didn’t depend on the credit recourses in 2009, and today they have no plans to attract any credit recourses.Among the companies which plan to make massive investment today and haven’t made it in the last 3 years 50% don’t plan to attract the additional financing. 25% of this sample plan to enter the capital markets (only 4% of all the responders). All the companies that plan to enter capital markets and/or to make massive investments are the members of big business, all of them restructured the credit in 2009 and today they plan to increase their income and expand their business by the means of assets acquisition.The study involved 56 companies. St. Petersburg was the main region of the study. The sampling structure corresponds with the structure of tenants in business centers A and B+/B Class. Time of conducting the survey: April-May 2010.Survey data characterize only responders’ current event perception and their short-term plans (in the qualitative level). We plan to conduct such type of surveys every six months. As a result, we will have an opportunity to estimate the perceptions of the responders over the past period of time. We plan to conduct our next survey in November, 2010. June 18, 2010MoscowParticipation in the panel discussion «Distressed and non-core assets management in credit organizations: direct sale, close share investment funds, obligations» The panel discussion «Distressed and non-core assets management in credit organizations: direct sale, close share investment funds, obligations» was held on 17th of June. The meeting was organized by Association of Regional Banks of Russia and World Trade Centre. The speaker of Expert Council of the Guild of Property Managers and Developers (GUD) was Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer, Chairman of Expert Council of financial institutes’ assets capitalization in GUD. Mrs. Setskaya delivered the report «Assistance in capitalization of financial institutes’ assets».The panel discussion «Distressed and non-core assets management in credit organizations: direct sale, close share investment funds, obligations» was held on 17th of June. The meeting was organized by Association of Regional Banks of Russia and World Trade Centre. The speaker of Expert Council of the Guild of Property Managers and Developers (GUD) was Vera Setskaya, President of GVA Sawyer, Chairman of Expert Council of financial institutes’ assets capitalization in GUD. Mrs. Setskaya delivered the report «Assistance in capitalization of financial institutes’ assets». The main issues discussed by the participants in the panel discussion were the questions on harmonization the positions of banks and representatives of infrastructure that ensures efficient and quality management of distressed credit portfolios and non-core assets. The main aim of the meeting was to attract banks, owners of non-core assets to cooperate with managing companies and professionals of the financial market to rise the capitalization assets and to develop proposals for practical measures for structural work with distressed and non-core bank assets.Among the participants of the meeting there were representatives from banks and financial market, institutional and foreign investors, professional participants of the real estate market. June 11, 2010RussiaANNOUNCEMENT of the Forum "Big Consulting` 10"For over eight years the annual conference, which has become during its existence one of the outstanding events in the consulting market, is held in St. Petersburg in July. In 2010, the conference will acquire the status of Forum. GVA Sawyer is among media partners of the event.For over eight years the annual conference, which has become during its existence one of the outstanding events in the consulting market, is held in St. Petersburg in July. In 2010, the conference will acquire the status of Forum. GVA Sawyer is among media partners of the event.Main discussion topics of the Forum BC `10:Changes to the law on value. Is the market ready?Cadastral valuation of land and real estate. What are the prospects?Investment property appraisal. Waiting for growth?Value manipulation in bankruptcy proceedings. Economic security?Evaluation of high technology business. What is the cost of the future?The Forum invited representatives of the Federation Council and the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation, the Constitutional and Arbitration courts of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Energy of Russia, the Russian Federal Tax Service, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Federal Property Agency, the Federal Service of State Registration, Land Register and Mapping (Rosreestr), the Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic Supervision (RosTekhNadzor), Association of Russian Banks, Association of Regional Banks "Russia", self-regulatory organizations, the largest consumers of professional services, international organizations.Forum BC`10 will be held on July 2-3, 2010 in St. Petersburg (BALTIC HOTEL HOME) with the assistance of the National Council for appraisal activities and the All-Russian Trade Union of Workers of audit, appraisal, expert and consulting organizations. Dmitry Kucheryavykh, Head of assets appraisal and analysis department of GVA Sawyer, will speak at the panel discussion "Investment property appraisal. Waiting for growth?"The Forum will be held in the format of plenary sessions and parallel discussions. The number of participants in topical discussions is limited (pre-registration is required), participation is paid.