OREANDA-NEWS. September 08, 2014. The Government Commission for control over foreign investments in the Russian Federation had a meeting with the agenda concerning transactions in the pharmaceutical sector, production and supplies of equipment for nuclear power stations and production of construction materials.

For example, the Commission considered a transaction of American pharmaceutical company “Abbott” for acquiring “Veropharm” OJSC of Russia - a leading producer of medicines for treating cancer diseases; a transaction of German “Blitz F14-206 GmbH” with regard to “GEA Mashimpeks” Ltd., which is a strategic company producing equipment for nuclear power stations; and a transaction of “Holsim” Ltd. (Switzerland), a global producer of construction materials, to establish control over “Lafarge Cement” OJSC.

All transactions petitioned to the Government Commission were approved.

As pointed out the Head of FAS Igor Artemiev, today’s agenda showed that in spite of the difficult political situation and sanctions, big international business is interested in acquiring assets in the Russian Federation, investing in their relevant fields of activities, and producing products using advanced technologies in Russia.

It is encouraged, in particular, by a sufficiently simple procedure of pre-merger approvals.

“We will continue efforts to simplify and refine the norms of No.57-FZ, especially in the part of their uniform interpretation, in order to improve the investment climate in the Russian Federation, which, as we found out today, is already sufficiently attractive for foreign companies”, commented the Head of FAS Department for Control over Foreign Investments, Armen Khanyan.