Investor and Business Communication Services

For the Central and Eastern Europe Marketplace

FinPlusBiz provides investor and business communications, promotion and marketing services to increase value in the Central and Eastern Europe marketplace. These services include the work to complete a documentation package for presentation to investors, including an Information Memorandum that puts a company’s “investment program in the fast lane.” In addition, FinPlusBiz provides website design, writing, editing and translation services for businesses that wish to reach the international marketplace in the English language.

Fin+Biz Services

SME Finance Program

FinPlusBiz has developed a structured financing program for business opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe in the range of USD 500,000 to USD 10 million that provides a means for wealthy individuals and smaller institutions to participate. This investment structure is a “syndication” of a group of wealthy individual investors and small institutions into a Cyprus company structured around a specific business opportunity. This structured financing was developed with the assistance of a leading professional services firm in Cyprus.
With this structured financing, investors are offered units of investment, usually consisting of common and preferred shares, in a Cyprus company, which in turn will invest in a specified project, asset or business. The Cyprus structure gives investors the assurance of protection of law in a EU country that has low tax rates. The promoters of the project or business opportunity may be the current business owners or other person(s) who will be the principals or management of the operating business.
The offering of investment units is made through a Private Placement Memorandum that describes the terms of the investment and the opportunity.
Depending on the business and financing required, the total offering might range from USD $500,000 to USD 10 million and unit investment size could range from USD 10,000 to USD 500,000. The costs and fees of the offering are paid from the proceeds.
The units of investment are sold during a fixed selling period that normally extends for six months. During the offering period there may be interim closings that provide phased funding of the business opportunity or project. Upon closing, investment proceeds are made available to the Company in the form of equity and debt financing depending upon terms of a Shareholders’ Agreement.

Investment Documentation

FinPlusBiz offers a set of Investment documentations services for those seeking funding or sale of a business in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly for cross-border or international investors. These documents could consist of:

  • Promotional brochures and posters,
  • Logo and website design,
  • Social media strategy and implementation,
  • Investment offering documentation.

 

Information Memorandum

A concise, well-written Information Memorandum puts your investment program in the express lane. Time is money when a company is seeking an investment, sale of shares or assets, or divestment of a business. A good Information Memorandum puts forth a strong argument on behalf of the business  and helps potential investors speed up the review and decision making process. The purpose is to make the business and its environment transparent and understandable.
Modern financial and strategic investors are savvy and have access to enormous information resources, but the costs to analyze cross-border investments can be expensive and time consuming. Professional investors usually have clear investment criteria and experienced staff to examine opportunities. In many cases, a partner or principal reads a blind profile or a summary, and may meet representatives of a target business, but passes it to an analyst for in-house due diligence if the investment looks interesting. A well-drawn Information Memorandum clearly presents the opportunity from the first page, and then clarifies the important opportunity and risk elements to facilitate the analyst’s work.
An Information Memorandum is very different from a Business Plan, which describes a business’ operation in great detail and forecasts for future performance. Nor is it a Marketing Brochure. The Information Memorandum:
-> Describes the current mission, objectives and market position of the business;
-> Provides relevant market information and the company’s position in the market in terms of product, price and promotion;
-> Gives a brief history of the business, and its organizational structure, locations and employees;
-> Provides background information about the directors, management and key employees;
-> Outlines the legal and regulatory position including legal organization and registration, licenses and tax position, and any current legal or tax issues;
-> Summarizes risks that are specific to the business’ activities, market and region;
-> Details the proposed investment and planned use of proceeds from the investment.
The Information Memorandum should be well written and relatively brief (25- 30 pages) with a one-page summary. It may be supplemented with more detailed information about the business and its markets – the appendices are where a business plan and marketing materials as well as market reports, region reports, regional tax information and other materials that an analyst.

 

Books, Articles, Websites and Design

Russia: 1992 to 2022

From 1992 until 2022, Charles W. Borden, the founder of Fin+Biz, resided in Moscow and worked as Director of several financial and investment management businesses, and as Writer, Editor and Designer for eight English language magazines that served the Russia investment, finance, business and arts communities.

Books

Russian Wine Country: Sleeping Beauty Awakens 2014

Russian Wine Country stretches along Russia’s northern Black Sea coast from the Gelendzhik coastal resort, about 250 kilometers north of Sochi, to the Taman Peninsula between the Black and Azov Seas. In the seventh century BC, Greek settlers produced some of the world’s first wines in this area.
In the late 19th century, wineries were built along the coast to meet the demand from the aristocracy that had acquired a taste for French Champagne.
The 1917 Revolution brought socialization and industrialization to the wine industry, and by 1980 the Soviet Union was the world’s fourth largest producer behind Italy, France, and Spain. These wines were mostly sparkling or sweet and fortified.
The end of the Soviet era brought huge challenges and change to the industry, but beginning in 2003 modern winemaking pioneers began to make fine wines and restore the region’s legacy. Though still sleepy, this reincarnated youthful beauty is waking up.

Restaurant Vote: World’s 1000 Best Restaurants in 100 Cities

Global Flavor: Europe’s 1000 Best Restaurants in 100 Cities

Global Flavor: North America’s 1000 Best Restaurants in 100 Cities

Magazines

Moscow's Passport Magazine

Passport Article Count

Restaurant reviews – 83
Wine articles – 68
Fred – 60

//////// Restaurant/Wine
Best of Wine 2008, December 2008
There are essentially four wine boutique chains in Moscow: Grand Cru, owned by importer Simple Wines; Kauffman shops, owned by importer Whitehall (VX Import); the Magnum and Decanter shops owned by importer DP Trade; and Kollektsiya Vin. They all have good high end wine selections but Kauffman gets the Best award nod for stocking a fair number of imports under 600 rubles, a rarity at the others.

In Grand Havana, October 2008

Black Sea Gold Coast, August 2008
Recently Passport’s Knights of the Vine gathered to gauge the progress of Russian wineries. With a selection that included 28 bottles from the Metro discount cash-andcarry chain and eight more from Château Le Grand Vostock in Krasnodar region, Russia’s only modern winery, and Praskoveya Winery near Budyonnovsk in Stavropol region, preparation for the event reminded me of my first trip to a Russian winery, in September 1992.

Windows on the World, July 2008

Kevin Zraly was the first wine steward and wine director of what was one of Manhattan’s top restaurants, Windows on the World. The restaurant, with its 50,000-bottle cellar atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center, disappeared forever on September 11, 2001. During Zraly’s years there and since, he has instructed more than 18,000 students in his famous Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, and his book by that title is America’s top-selling wine edition. His semiannual wine course in New York, which costs $995 and gives students the opportunity to taste $4,000 worth of wine, is always sold out.
Two regular Knights of the Vine, Kim and Jim Balaschak, invited me to the first session of a Windows on the World Complete Wine Course at their Moscow home. This would be a serious wine event; each of the guests had ordered a copy of the Zraly book and was prepped to cover the first chapter, French white wines. All had been instructed by Kim to eat light beforehand and avoid perfumes and cologne. Jim found each of Zraly’s suggested wines, which were displayed as we gathered around a large table laden with assorted glasses and light snacks. One of the cheeses was Adygeysky, named for the autonomous republic of Adygea, located in the Krasnodar region in the south of Russia. This light, soft white cheese (which makes a good substitute for paneer in Indian food) was a surprisingly good, neutral accompaniment for wine tasting.

Canadian Riches, July 2008
The cork on the bottle of Dan Aykroyd wine, produced at Lakeview Cellars on Canada’s Niagara peninsula, is branded “Made from 100% Snob Free Grapes.” Jokes aside, Aykroyd’s Vidal Icewine won the 2008 Wine of the Year at the Ontario wine awards. We had a chance to try this award winner and many other Canadian icewines recently at the Canadian Embassy, hosted by Ambassador Ralph Lysyshyn, and courtesy of wannabe importer VinoCanada and its representative Phil Cheevers.

Favored by the Tsars, June 2008
This month’s wine tasting was inspired by the Valence area in the heart of the French Côtes du Rhône wine region, which runs along the Rhône River in southeastern France from the Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south to Côte Rôtie and Condrieu in the north. The Ancient Romans used the Rhone for transport and trade, establishing a city at Vienne and planting the first vineyards in the area that is now known as St. Joseph and Côte Rotie. These are France’s oldest wine districts.

Supermarket Wines, May 2008
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1157/
For Passport’s wine tastings we rarely sample “supermarket wines,” which are the ones most consumers drink at home on a regular basis. For Moscow this means wines that range from 300 to 500 rubles. So this month we are exploring the selection of wines at Metro, the German cash and carry operator. Metro, which has many locations in Moscow, requires membership for which only businesses are eligible. Readers should note that prices at Metro are significantly lower than at most supermarkets. For instance, prices at Sedmoi Kontinent for five wines on our list were 21 to 48 percent higher than at Metro.

The Hills are Alive, April 2008
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1111/
When an upcoming business trip to Vienna prompted the decision to focus on Austrian wines for this month’s wine tasting, we set to scouring Moscow for appropriate subjects. Our search yielded four whites, two dessert wines, no reds at all, and the realization that the local selection of Austrian wine is woefully thin. This under-representation may be attributable both to the relatively high prices and low profile of Austrian wines in world markets. Whatever the reason, it is unfortunate because Austrian wines, particularly whites, can be very good. In any event, the dearth of candidates forced us to fill in with a few interestinglooking reds that are not Austrian but are available in Moscow.

One Night In … Vienna, April 2008
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1112/
A business trip to Vienna presented an opportunity to visit a new wine cellar that now ranks as one of the largest and greatest in Europe.

Mediterranean Tour, March 2008
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1077/
The venue for this month’s tasting, ?, features a Mediterranean menu. Also, we were to be joined at this event by Henri Bernabe, director of a leading grape-vine producer and our host on France’s Mediterranean coast in Montpellier during the recent Knights of the Vine gathering. So Passport publisher John Ortega decided take our Russian Knights of the Vine on tour of Mediterranean wine country.

Return of the King, February 2008
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1044/
The Knights of the Vine took another trip to New Zealand at year-end, just before the long Russian holiday. Besides being a long way from anywhere, New Zealand is known for three things: wool, the location for the filming of The Lord of the Rings, and its wines. New Zealand has ten diverse wine regions, ranging from the mountainous, cool Central Otango on the South Island to the warmer, coastal Hawke’s Bay on the North Island.

Moscow Wine Buyers’ Guide, January 2008
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1014/
Preparing for the New Year celebrations, wine sales peak in Russia, and sparkling wines are the biggest sellers. Gift wines and wines for corporate New Year parties generate the largest sales. Unfortunately, the choice of wines in wine shops and on restaurant wine lists is still between overpriced and very, very overpriced.

Russia’s Bordeaux, Passport Magazine, May 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/233/

Reviving Old Traditions, Aeroflot inflight magazine,
www.aeroflot.ru/eng/service.asp?ob_no=3112&d_no=3118

Birthplace of Wine, Aeroflot inflight magazine,
www.aeroflot.ru/eng/service.asp?ob_no=4679&d_no=4681

Chilean Shootout, Passport Magazine, June 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/245/

California Gold, Passport Magazine, Summer 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/264/

Off on Safari, Passport Magazine, September 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/279/

An Invitation We Couldn’t Refuse, Passport Magazine, October 2005

A Winemakers’ Oktoberfest, Passport Magazine, November 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/325/

Knights Forward, Passport Magazine, December 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/349/

Endless Summer in Moscow, Passport Magazine, January 2006
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/372/

Summing Up 2005, Passport Magazine, February 2006
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/387/

www.passportmagazine.ru/article/489/
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/425/
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/432/
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/372/

///////// Other Articles

Russian Fine Art – Review, Passport Magazine, October 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/304/

Spanish Exquisition, Passport Magazine, December 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/331/

Russian Miracle, Passport Magazine, December 2005
www.passportmagazine.ru/article/337/

Other Russia Publications

Websites

Website List

 

About FIN+BIZ

Russia: 1992 to 2022

FinPlusBiz is a global community of financial and investment professionals with an interest in Central and Eastern Europe. It was founded on the basis of the M&A, finance and investment advisory experience of the company founder in countries of the region including Ukraine and Russia.

From 1992 until 2022, Charles W. Borden, the founder of Fin+Biz, resided in Moscow and worked as Director of several financial and investment management businesses, and as Writer, Editor and Designer for eight English language magazines that served the Russia investment, finance, business and arts communities.

Charles W. Borden, Managing Editor

Editor, Writer, Designer, IT Manager

Charles W. Borden is a Fairfield, Iowa professional editor, writer, designer, IT Manager and planner with over 50 years of work with finance and investment businesses in the United States, France and Russia:

  • Editor, writer, designer and IT Manager for a French private equity fund with investments in European luxury goods and services.
  • Consultant to international funds and investors for agribusiness and other investments in Russia and Ukraine.
  • Author and editor for numerous books about Russian and Ukrainian life and culture including “Russian Wine Country: Sleeping Beauty Awakens” (2014).
  • Author of more than 100 articles including restaurants and wine reviews for Moscow’s Passport Magazine and other articles about Russian culture and business.
  • Developer of an innovative rating system of the world’s finest restaurants that resulted in three books: Restaurant Vote World’s Best Restaurants 2008, Borden’s Best Restaurants – Europe 2010, Borden’s Best Restaurants – North America 2012.
  • Editor, author and translator for English language magazines including “Aeroflot” inflight Magazine, “Russians: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” and “Russian Fine Art“.
  • Contributed to the annual editions of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book from 2003 to 2009 and The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson
  • Managed modernization projects for two state wineries of the former Soviet Union from 1992 to 2000.
  • Director of Meridian Capital, a Moscow mid-market mergers and acquisitions investment boutique. Clients included the EBRD, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, European Medical and Dental Centers (EMC), White and Case (USA), Domaine Boyar (Bulgaria), Comcast/AT&T (USA), Katren (Russia) and EdiPress Kone Liga among many others.
  • Experience with commercial and residential real estate development as a registered professional civil engineer.
  • Experienced Editor, Writer, WordPress developer, developer and Adobe Creative Suite designer.

About FinancePlus BIZ

Investor and business communications, promotion and marketing services to increase value in the Central and Eastern Europe marketplace.

FinPlusBiz is a global community of financial and investment professionals with an interest in Central and Eastern Europe. It was founded on the basis of the M&A, finance and investment advisory experience of the company founder in countries of the region including Ukraine and Russia.

FinPlusBiz News and Events

Carpathia Gardens

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