Last week at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) announced the launch of the Russia-Japan Investment Fund (RJIF), after completion of the registration and establishment procedures.
The launch follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in late 2016 in which each party committed $500 million. The fund’s priority targets include healthcare, smart cities, energy, new technologies, as well as projects aimed at developing industrial and export capacities in the Russian Far East and strengthening trade between the two countries.
The fund considers investments in such various various industries as healthcare, chemicals, metals and services. The first deals are expected to be completed “in the near future,” in particular in the fields of healthcare, chemicals, metals and services.
“The joint fund between RDIF and JBIC’s will attract FDI into the Russian economy via collaboration with large Japanese companies and banks. The Fund’s initiatives will not only help to diversify Russian-Japanese trade and economic ties, but will also help to develop progressive technologies and further strengthen the identified industries,” stated RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev.
Over the past few years the RDIF, Russia’s sovereign fund, has agreed on several investment partnerships with foreign institutions, with the development of new technologies among the key focuses of its strategy. Thus in November last year the Russia-China Investment Fund (RCIF), an RDIF affilate, and Chinese company TUS Holdings agreed to establish a joint venture fund to “promote the development of trade and economic, investment, scientific and technological cooperation” between the two countries.
The sovereign fund also invests directly in tech companies. Recently it provided capital to Russian enterprise security software provider InfoWatch and to Hyperloop One, the Californian startup which aims to commercialize next-gen transportation technologies.
Lat year the fund also agreed on a partnership with several Russian and Chinese industry players to develop and manufacture medical robots.
