Center-Invest: southern champion with a social conscience
Ursa Bank: hot on the heels of the leader
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| George Nianias, Denholm Hall: good at structuring the deals for big projects |
Based in the Kaliningrad region, the Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, the project is looking to take full advantage of its coastal location and close proximity to European Union countries to make it an all-year health and activity resort serving clients from the EU and Russia. Conceived to exploit legislation that will make Kaliningrad one of only four locations in the whole of Russia where gambling will be allowed, the Amber Shore of Russia project promises to combine fun with fitness, with environment-friendly and socially sustainable elements thrown in. Covering roughly 70 hectares and involving 230 million square metres of construction, the resort-recreation complex is due for completion in five years and will be one of the most ambitious projects of its type yet undertaken in Russia and promises to be a model for future developments of a similar type.
Given the lack of such projects in Russia to date it’s perhaps no surprise that Korunt, the Russian business group that conceived the project, had to look abroad to source the financial expertise necessary to structure what Korunt representative Gennady Sirotin estimates is at least a €100 million concept.