The U.S. Russia Investment Fund
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| name = The U.S. Russia Investment Fund
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| foundation = 1995
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| location_city = New York City
| location_country = United States
| location = Suite 300, 545 Fifth Avenue
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| key_people = Patricia Cloherty (chairman)
James Cook (Managing Partner){{cite news|last1=Chazan|first1=Guy|title=Mortgage Loans Sweep Russia; New Concept Yet to Be Tested|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB933268384794103106|accessdate=October 29, 2016|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 30, 1999|quote="We've estimated that it's a multitrillion-dollar market," says TUSRIF Senior Vice President James Cook. }}
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The U.S. Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF) was an investment fund from 1995 to 2008. It was established by the United States government to make private investments in the Russian economy. By 2005, it had invested $300 million in 44 Russian companies. James Cook, Managing Director, founded and developed two of the leading companies DeltaBank, the first bank to sell credit cards in Russia, and DeltaCredit, the first bank to sell residential mortgages in Russia. TUSRIF was replaced by the U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) in 2008, while its financial arm, Delta Private Equity Partners, was purchased by Deutsche Bank in 2009.
History
The U.S. Russia Investment Fund was established by the United States federal government in 1995.{{cite web|title=About USRF|url=http://usrf.us/index.html|website=The U.S. Russia Foundation|accessdate=October 27, 2016}} It was the result of the merger of two funds established in 1993-1994: the $340-million Russian American Enterprise Fund (RAEF) and the $100-million Fund for Large Enterprises (FLEER).{{cite news|last1=Bandow|first1=Doug|authorlink=Doug Bandow|title=Uncle Sam as Investment Banker: The Failure of Washington's Overseas Enterprise Funds|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-260.html|accessdate=October 27, 2016|work=Cato Policy Analysis|issue=260|date=September 19, 1996|publisher=Cato Institute}} Most of the money came from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).{{cite news|last1=Koriukin|first1=Kirill|last2=Mazurin|first2=Nikolai|title=U.S.-Backed Venture Fund to Raise $150M|url=http://old.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/tmt/255594.html|accessdate=October 28, 2016|work=The Moscow Times|date=February 1, 2001}} The fund was managed by Delta Capital Management,{{cite news|last1=Varoli|first1=John|title=TECHNOLOGY; Russia Tries To Catch Up|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/business/technology-russia-tries-to-catch-up.html|accessdate=October 27, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=July 16, 2001|quote=Delta Capital is among Port.ru's backers. It also administers the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund, which is based in New York and was established by Congress in 1994 with $440 million of grant money for Russian ventures.}} and its chairman and chief executive officer was Patricia Cloherty.{{cite news|title=U.S. Policy Towards Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB0dYEMEDUsC&q=Patricia+Cloherty+tusrif&pg=PA3|accessdate=October 27, 2016|work=U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|date=June 21, 2005|pages=3–12|isbn = 9781422334287|quote=Statement of Patricia Cloherty, Chairman and CEO, The U.S-Russia Investment Fund, and Chairman and CEO, Delta Private Equity Partners, New York and Moscow}}
Its main goal was to promote investments in Russia. It specialized in "early venture, mid venture, and growth capital investments in middle market companies", with a focus on the "media, retail, consumer goods, financial services, information technology, and telecommunication sectors".{{cite web|title=Company Overview of The U.S. Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF)|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=3483465|website=Bloomberg|accessdate=October 27, 2016}} TUSRIF and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company owned 51% of the Imperial Porcelain Factory until 1999, when it was nationalized by the Government of Russia.{{cite news|last1=Banerjee|first1=Neela|title=INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; Frustrated, Russian Securities Regulator Resigns|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/16/business/international-business-frustrated-russian-securities-regulator-resigns.html|accessdate=October 27, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=October 16, 1999|quote=Mr. Vasiliev's decision to leave was clinched by a St. Petersburg court's decision on Monday to renationalize the Lomonosov porcelain factory, a move that annulled a 51 percent stake held in the company by executives of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company and the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund.}}
In 2000, it established DeltaBank, the first bank to sell Visa credit cards in Russia.{{cite news|title=James Cook, Father of the Russian Mortgage|url=http://www.passportmagazine.ru/article/724/|accessdate=October 22, 2016|work=Passport Magazine|date=May 2007}} In October 2000, it became a majority shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Meanwhile, they acquired JPMorgan Chase's banking license in 2000 and established DeltaCredit, the first bank to sell residential mortgages in Russia, in 2001.
The same year, it established the Delta Russian Fund, whose aim was to attract $150 million in venture capital from investors to reinvest in the Russian economy. It also invested in Runet, the Russian internet.{{cite news|last1=Varoli|first1=John|title=TECHNOLOGY; Russia Tries To Catch Up|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/business/technology-russia-tries-to-catch-up.html|accessdate=October 28, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=July 16, 2001}} The following year, in 2002, it invested $1 million in Egar Technology, a financial trading company,{{cite web|title=Company Overview of EGAR Technology, Inc.|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=3118472|website=Bloomberg|accessdate=October 27, 2016}} while the International Finance Corporation invested $1.5 million.{{cite web|title=IFC and Delta Capital/The U.S. Russia Investment Fund Finalize Investment in EGAR Technology|url=http://ifcext.ifc.org/ifcext/pressroom/ifcpressroom.nsf/1f70cd9a07d692d685256ee1001cdd37/fa7d20190bbc32d285256c360071429f?OpenDocument|website=International Finance Corporation|accessdate=October 27, 2016|date=September 16, 2002}} In 2004, GE purchased the TUSRIF-managed DeltaBank for $150 million.{{cite news|last1=Ostrovsky|first1=Simon|title=GE Buys DeltaBank for $150M|url=http://old.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/tmt/229026.html/|accessdate=October 28, 2016|work=The Moscow Times|date=August 13, 2004}}{{cite news|title=GE to Buy DeltaBank to Enter Russia|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-12-fi-rup12.5-story.html|access-date=October 28, 2016|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=August 12, 2004}}
By 2005, TUSRIF had invested $300 million in 44 Russian companies, including the aforementioned DeltaBank and DeltaCredit as well as two television networks. However, DeltaCredit was acquired by the Société Générale for $100 million that year.{{cite news|title=Building Mortgage: Pamplin alumnus James Cook has been in on the ground floor of Russian influence|url=http://www.magazine.pamplin.vt.edu/fall08.pdf|accessdate=October 31, 2016|work=Pamplin College of Business|date=Fall 2008|page=6|quote=The mortgage bank, DeltaCredit, became the top mortgage bank in Russia; in 2005, the French Société Générale acquired it for $100 million.}} Meanwhile, TUSRIF also invested in small businesses, for example in Nizhny Novgorod.{{cite news|last1=Chipman|first1=Andrea|title=Small Businesses Redeem Reputation Of the West's Russian Loan Programs|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB972857009597420870|accessdate=October 30, 2016|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=October 30, 2000|quote=The expansion of small businesses in Nizhny Novgorod and other cities across Russia is due in large part to two large foreign investors -- the EBRD and the U.S.-government financed U.S.-Russia Investment Fund.}}
TUSRIF was replaced by the U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) in 2008. Meanwhile, Delta Capital Management, which became Delta Private Equity Partners, was purchased by UFG Private Equity, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, in 2009.{{cite web|title=Company Overview of Delta Private Equity Partners|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=710387|website=Bloomberg|accessdate=October 28, 2016}} Three years later, in 2011, the disposal of $150 million from the fund was tabled by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Congress, on the recommendation from the Obama administration that half should go to the United States Department of the Treasury and half to support American values in Russia.{{cite journal|first=Daniel F. |last=Runde |title=The U.S.-Russia Investment Fund and the $75-million Question|url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-russia-investment-fund-and-75-million-question|website=Center for Strategic & International Studies|accessdate=October 27, 2016|date=November 3, 2011}} By 2012, the Obama administration asked Congress to allocate only $50 million to support human rights non-profit organizations in Russia.{{cite news|last1=Herszenhorn|first1=David M.|title=U.S. Seeking Use of Funds to Aid Russian Democracy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/world/europe/to-aid-russian-democracy-us-seeking-use-of-funds.html?_r=0|accessdate=October 27, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=March 15, 2012}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Russia–United States relations}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:US Russia Investment Fund, The}}
Category:Investment companies based in New York City
Category:1995 establishments in New York (state)
Category:Financial services companies established in 1995
Category:Financial services companies disestablished in 2008