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.

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.

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.

From 2001 to 2011, Charles was editor and writer for several monthly English language magazines in Moscow.  For those publications he authored hundreds of articles on Russian restaurants, food and wine, culture and history.  These magazines included:

• Passport Magazine (2006 to 2011), Restaurant and Wine Editor for this popular monthly Moscow magazine he wrote 211 articles including 83 restaurant reviews, 68 wine articles and 60 episodes of his Fred Flintstone satirical series about driving in Moscow. Past issues of Passport Magazine are available on its website: http://passportmagazine.ru.
• Aeroflot (2005-2006), Managing Editor for the English edition of the airline’s in-flight magazine.
• Russians: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (2003-2004), Managing Editor for this glossy magazine about Russian life and culture.
• Russian Fine Art (2002-2003), Managing Editor for the English edition of the well-known Russian language fine art magazine Russkoye Iskusstvo.

Benchmarks of Civilization

An Account of the Development, Migration and Kinship of the World’s Peoples and Culture

Benchmarks of Civilization is an illustrated resource about the development, migration and kinship of the world’s peoples and cultures. It consists of a poster and book.
The poster provides a geographical reference and timeline for each major civilization and culture within each region of the world. The poster helps to visualize the migration of populations that resulted in a new civilization or culture. Each timeline represents a cultural wave, with a beginning and end. Some lasted just a few centuries and others for millennia. The Benchmarks of Civilization poster exposes fascinating issues about the kinship between cultures: why and how did a population group break away and migrate, and how was a new culture born? Often a plague or famine was the source of the death of a culture and impetus for migration as people sought food and resources. Religion was also often a power for birth when a group fled or was forced away.
The accompanying Benchmarks of Civilization book provides significant details about each of the world’s cultures and civilizations and a timeline of principal events and periods within them. The book begins with a discussion of the Prehistoric Era that preceded development of separate “civilizations” or “cultures”. There are no recorded records from this era so its history can only be deduced from archeological finds and DNA found in them.

Borden Family in America

Descendants of Richard Borden – Emigrants from Headcorn in 1635

Many members of the Borden family in America can trace their ancestry to Richard Borden who emigrated with his family (and his brother John and family) to Boston in about 1635 from the village of Headcorn, Kent County, England.
This website contains information and links for those interested in the history of this branch of the early settlers of New England.

Bridge to Unity

Unified Field-based Science and Spirituality

Bridge to Unity contains information about the books and research articles of Dr. Robert W. Boyer (Bob), who first graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UCLA, and then won advanced degrees from Maharishi European Research University in Switzerland, a Master’s degree in experimental psychology at California State University Northridge and doctorate in cognitive psychology at University of Oklahoma.
Bob served in the non-profit educational organization for Transcendental Meditation in the U.S. as national president of the students’ wing and national vice-president-administration and trustee of the umbrella organization. He had the great honor of working with founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Bob served as faculty member in psychology and neuroscience at Maharishi International University in Iowa. After completing postdoctoral clinical internships and professional licenses he worked in community mental health and private practice. More recently, he  consulted and taught communication skills and wrote many scientific articles and books.

Carpathia Gardens (English and Ukrainian)

A Community in Harmony with Nature for Ukraine’s Transcarpathia Mountain Region

Carpathia Gardens will be a sustainable village near the northeastern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains south of Lviv, a Ukrainian city with a population over 700,000.
Carpathia Gardens will welcome residents from all ethnic, religious and philosophical backgrounds who are interested in living in a sustainable community that provides a healthy, fulfilling life for community members.
Carpathia Gardens seeks supportive, creative and active individuals to help build this community: artists, farmers, educators, doctors, scientists and workers of all professions to join us.

FinancePlus

FinancePlus was a global community of more than 1,000,000 financial and investment professionals and the largest owner over finance and investment related groups on LinkedIn.

FinancePlus was founded on the basis of the extensive cross-border M&A transaction experience of its owners and members as private equity fund managers and corporate finance advisors. FinancePlus owns LinkedIn groups that include FinancePlus, Accounting & Audit, Chief Financial Officer – CFO, Private Equity Networking, Mergers & Acquisitions, and TechPlus among others. FinancePlus also owns country business finance and investment related groups in Central and Eastern Europe including some of the largest in Russia and Ukraine.

Maharishi Ayurveda Russia (Russian)

«Цель Махариши Аюрведа – помочь каждому человеку
достичь восстановления равновесия и совершенного здоровья.» —Доктор Максим Шатохин

The original science of health is as old as the human race. It’s called Ayurveda, which is Sanskrit for science of life.

Russia Soccer

Football Fan Visitor Guide to Russia: Get to Know the Russian Host Cities for the World Cup 2018

Everything you need to know from the eyes of Russia’s expat resident footballers on the road to World Cup 2018 and beyond.
Russia is set to host the the World Cup in 2018 from June 14 to July 15 in 11 cities, some of which are widely known destinations like Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. Other host cities, such as Rostov-on-Don and Nizhny Novgorod, are less famous.
World football governing body FIFA published 11 short videos introducing the Russian destinations on its YouTube channel as it continues to resist calls for a boycott of the event.

Russian Wine Country: Sleeping Beauty Awakens

This Russian Wine Country website provides information about the development of the region on the northeast coast of the Black Sea
that was the subject of the 2014 book Russian Wine Country: Sleeping Beauty Awakens

The Russian Wine Country website focuses the area of Russia that has been the primary focus of Western winemakers since the end of the USSR due to the potential of its terroirs. It is the area that stretches along the Black Sea coast from just south of Gelendzhik to the Taman Peninsula along the south coast of the Azov Sea. The first modern winery of the region, Chateau Le Grand Vostock, was developed in 2003 by French wine professionals and builders with all French equipment. Since then, about 20 modern wineries have opened. Most have been “green-field” but a few Soviet era wineries have successfully transformed to modern operations. In addition, there are 15 or so “garagistes” that are producing respectable wines, and certainly many of them will transform into larger operations in the coming years.
It is the area that stretches along the Black Sea coast from just south of Gelendzhik to the Taman Peninsula along the south coast of the Azov Sea. The first modern winery of the region, Chateau Le Grand Vostock, was developed in 2003 by French wine professionals and builders with all French equipment. Since then, about 20 modern wineries have opened. Most have been “green-field” but a few Soviet era wineries have successfully transformed to modern operations. In addition, there are 15 or so “garagistes” that are producing respectable wines, and certainly many of them will transform into larger operations in the coming years.
Russian wineries grow many white and red wines French varietal grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Aligote, Muscat and Sauvignon Blanc, and indigenous Georgian and Russian varieties such as Rkatsiteli, Krasnostop, and Saperavi.
This website only features wineries that produce wines from Russian grapes, either from their own vineyards or purchased from neighboring vineyards. Even with this restriction, we are aware that some of the wineries listed also produce wines from imported “wine material” or concentrate. To the degree possible, we try to limit our information to authentic Russian wines produced from grapes grown in Russia.

Speaking Freely with Dennis

Interviews with prominent people from business, politics, sports, entertainment, and non-profits.

Dennis’ angle is to ask intelligent and thought provoking questions and allow guests to speak in detail about their area of expertise and interest. He tries to have people come on who represent diverse points of view.