Grant Thornton Valuation Advisory Services
"The creation of a joint venture between our two firms introduces a new development for Russian auditors and appraisers"
explains Alexander Ivanov, President of RUSSIAN APPRAISAL, and Sergey Aslibekian, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton.
The new joint venture, Grant Thornton Valuation Advisory Services, was created in April 2006. Previously, audit and valuation companies in Russia had acted independently from each other and represented their respective services in the neighboring spheres of the market. However significant changes have taken place over recent years which have resulted in businesses taking a more proactive role in the development process, including mergers and acquisitions. In this development process, companies are frequently faced with situations where they require valuation services. As well as the growth of foreign investments in the Russian market, there is a steady growth of foreign companies entering the Russian market. These foreign companies often start their business either by constructing their facilities and then importing the equipment and technologies or by acquiring existing Russian companies. All of these tasks require valuation services.
This has led to increased demand for valuation services which has been identified by Grant Thornton International as high priority. This factor as well as our firm's strategic development plan which envisaged consolidating our efforts with the efforts of other players in the specialist services market, influenced our decision to create this joint-venture.
The joint venture has proved to be mutually beneficial. It provides RUSSIAN APPRAISAL with the opportunity to utilise the international standards and valuation services experience of Grant Thornton member firms and enables them to satisfy the needs of its Russian clients abroad. Grant Thornton is now able to satisfy its clients' needs by providing them with valuation services when it does not contradict the professional standards. Additionally, Grant Thornton hope to expand its client base.
By conducting our business responsibly, we can ensure that our joint
venture takes full advantage of the favorable market trends. We are
positive that the Grant Thornton Valuation Advisory Services joint venture
is the first step towards the complete merger of our companies in the
future.
