First Skolkovo Resident Plans Public Stock Offering

VIST Mining, the first tenant of the Skolkovo Foundation technology park to go public, hopes to raise $50 million later this year, for further investment in software development for metals companies.  According to Skolokovo vice president Conor Lenihan, "This is a great blueprint for what Skolkovo can do." It's "within the pipeline of 500 startups, even though the park doesn't officially open till next year." The recent emergence of Skolkovo may coincide with a boom in venture capital investment in Russia-based companies, which jumped fourfold to a record $276 million this year as of July 20, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Since forming Skolkovo, the Russian government has allocated about $4.2 billion for the project and amended about 200 laws to encourage high-tech investment, according to the company's website. The campus, designed by France's AREP and scheduled for completion next year, will be able to accommodate 31,000 scientists, researchers, students and entrepreneurs, and has used tax breaks and other incentives to lure commitments from global companies such as Microsoft, Siemens, Cisco and Nokia.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/skolkovo-resident-readying-stock-offering/462423.html