Over 300 guests gathered in Zolotoy restaurant in Moscow on 15 October 2008 to celebrate the launch of the Russian edition of SPEAR’S Private Banking & Wealth Management Magazine headed by the Editor-in-Chief Alexander Gafin.

Among those present were Mikhail Fridman (Alfa Group), Petr Aven (Alfa Bank), Alexander Shokhin, Alexander Murychev (RSPP), David Iakobachvili (Wimm-Bill-Dann), Gleb Fetisov (The Council of Federation), Sergei Kozhevnikov (Russian Media Group), Sergei Polonsky (MIRAX Group), Shalva Breus (Volga), Mikhail Kusnirovitch (Bosco di Ciliegi), Alexander Weinstein, Vyacheslav Kopiev (Sistema), Boris Mints (Otkrytie), Mikhail Zelman (Arpikom), Evgeny Bernshtam (Sequoia Credit Consolidation and Fosbourne Home), Pavel Teplukhin (Troika Dialog), Irina Rapoport (Renaissance Investment Management), Michael Kuenzi (UBS. Wealth Management), Vladimir Pakhomov (Deutsche Bank), Aren Apikyan (MDM), Yakov Galperin (Alfa Capital), Maxim Liubomudrov (Deloitte), Oleg Belkin (Baltikums), Andrei Veklov (Raiffeisen Bank), Valery Chumachenko (URALSIB), Arshak Manasov (RMG), Sergei Voronin (Credit Suisse), Irina Sadochnikova (HSBC), Sergej Gurdzhian (Jaguar Land Rover), Yuri Anpilogov (UFG), Andrei Garbuz (Kinburn Investment Management), Tatiana Yakubovich (M2M Private Bank), Alexei Aksenov, Natalia Serebriakova (Swedbank), Andrei Klimov (Gazprombank), Pierre Obolensky (Kolchuga), Rejane Maire (Credit Agricole), Yitzhak Isenberg (LGT Bank), Shorena Kosashvili (VTB Asset Management), Tatiana Panasiuk (Veles Capital), Oleg Genin (United Media), Mikhail Kamensky (Sotheby’s), Vage Yengibarian (Prime Concept), Sergei Ivanov, Maria Soboleva (Pernod Ricard Eastern Europe), Maxim Voznesensky (Jewelry Theater), as well as Yuri Bashmet, Dmitry Malikov, Valery Siutkin, Olga Sviblova, Tatiana Ogorodnikova, Arina Sharapova, Sergei Mazaev and others.

“We are glad to see such a high quality publication appear on the market in such turbulent times. Quite a few members of our organization are part of the target audience, and to be more precise, these are people responsible for some 80% of Russia’s GDP. Undoubtedly, our cooperation will be mutually beneficial,” said Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in his welcoming speech. Alexander Shokhin came to the presentation of SPEAR’S from the Kremlin, where he was decorated with the Order for Services to the Fatherland by the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

“It is, indeed, a difficult period of time for the economy and, in particular, for the financial industry as in Russia, as well as anywhere else in the world. However, now is exactly the time when the information on how to preserve and increase assets is most demanded. And that is what SPEAR’S is all about,” pointed out Alexander Gafin, the Editor-in-Chief of the Russian edition. William Cash, the Editor-in-Chief of the original London-based edition of SPEAR’S, also congratulated the Russian team on the launch of SPEAR’S in Russia.

The event was held with Land Rover Russia being the General Partner. Partners were CHIVAS, Davidoff, Kauffman, and Mainstreet. Business FM participated as the Media Partner.

SPEAR’S is the most trustworthy and influential award-winning quarterly for High Net Worth individuals. The Russian edition was launched in Moscow in September 2008. Just as the UK original, SPEAR’S Russian Edition caters to two main audiences — the rich and the super-rich individuals, as well as private banking & wealth management industry experts. PBWM Media, headed by Dmitry Gafin, is the founder of SPEAR’S Russian Edition.

Creative and commercial management of the project is provided by MEDIACRAT.