OREANDA-NEWS. August 17, 2011. The Board of Directors of RUSNANO, meeting in regular session, has approved two new investment projects. Aggregate budgets of the projects exceed 36.5 billion rubles. Of that sum, RUSNANO will cofinance 10.8 billion rubles.

During the meeting, members of the Board of Directors approved a project to establish a vertically integrated company for production of high-technology beryllium materials for the electronics, telecommunications, and air and space industries and for other applications. Nanomaterials containing beryllium are hard, light, and able to withstand high temperatures—a unique combination of properties. The project will re-establish domestic production of beryllium for the Russian market and for export. Metals of Eastern Siberia, a METROPOL Group company, was project applicant.

The Board of Directors of RUSNANO approved the company’s investment in a project that will establish Russian production of energy-efficient glass and manufacture regular float glass and glass products.

The use to which energy-saving glass is put depends upon the type of amorphous coating (which is only nanometers in thickness) that is applied to the glass. Low-emissivity glass is used in cold climates to keep warmth indoors without compromising window transparency. Anti-sun glass benefits people in hot climates, as it protects rooms from overheating. Energy-saving glass significantly reduces the cost of heating and cooling buildings.

In addition, the Board of Directors endorsed Policies on the Participation of RUSNANO in Investment Funds in 2011–2015. The regulations were developed in response to a 2010 directive from the Supervisory Council and with consideration for results of the work of investment funds in 2009 and 2010. The newly adopted policies replace Conditions and Form of Participation by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies in Venture Capital and Seed Funds, adopted in 2009. As provided in the new policies, RUSNANO will participate in establishing investment funds whose goals are to engage private Russian and foreign investors in creating high-technology companies in Russia, to transfer leading technologies from abroad to companies operating in the Russian Federation, and to attract international management companies to the country.

The funds in which RUSNANO becomes a co-investor are important instruments in furthering the company’s work:

Forming a pool of projects that RUSNANO and its strategic partner-companies can finance in Russia

Facilitating development of small-budget projects to the stage and size that meet RUSNANO’s investment requirements

Cooperating with sector leaders to create centralized mechanisms for finding, financing, and developing new technologies

Fostering growth and diversification of the Russian venture capital market through funds that invest in high-technology production projects.

The new policies impose limitations on RUSNANO’s participation in investment funds. The sum of investment in the funds may not exceed 20 percent of the total investment of the company. The amount of a fund’s investment in nanotechnology projects in Russia must be no less than the investment of RUSNANO in that fund.

The Board of Directors of RUSNANO authorized the transfer of two projects to establish nanotechnology centers, one in Dubna and one in Tomsk/Omsk, to the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs. That step was taken in accordance with chapter 7 of federal law № 211-FZ On Reorganization of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies dated July 27, 2010, which requires that responsibility for developing innovative infrastructure in nanotechnology be conveyed to the fund.

The Board of Directors authorized placement of two new bond issues by the company. RUSNANO’s bonds will be backed by a guarantee from the Government of the Russian Federation. The guarantee was incorporated into the federal budget for 2011 with the following parameters:

Series 04—ten million bonds with nominal value of 1,000 rubles each and total nominal value of ten billion rubles to be placed in a public offering for a term of seven years from the date placement begins

Series 05—ten million bonds with nominal value of 1,000 rubles each and total nominal value of ten billion rubles to be placed in a public offering for a term of 7 years from the date placement begins.

The Board of Directors of RUSNANO approved transactions in which a member of that body, Vladimir Dmitriev, is an interested party. Mr. Dmitriev is chairman of the Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank). The board gave its consent to conclusion of the following agreements:

Agreements between RUSNANO and Vnesheconombank for services as paying agent for Series 04 and Series 05 bonds at a cost of service for each of the agreements of 0.03 percent (including VAT) of the nominal value of the obligation but in no case to exceed three million rubles

Agreement among RUSNANO, the Ministry of Finance, and Vnesheconombank for furnishing the state guarantee backing the Series 04 and Series 05 bonds

Agreement among the Ministry of Finance of Russia, Vnesheconombank, and Sberbank for furnishing the state guarantee backing the credit to be drawn by RUSNANO.

Finally, the Board of Directors approved as a material transaction related transactions by RUSNANO for placement of Series 04 and Series 05 bonds through public offering and purchasers of Series 04 and Series 05 bonds in the amount of 20 billion rubles plus aggregate coupon interest to be paid for the entire circulation period of the Series 04 and Series 05 bonds.

The Board of Directors endorsed a number of transactions that were part of implementing an earlier-approved investment project, Multifiunctional Nanostructured Coatings, in which Andrey Malyshev, a member of the Executive Board of RUSNANO and a member of the Board of Directors of project company Plackart, is an interested party.

Final details of RUSNANO’s new investment projects will be published after investment agreements have been signed by their participants.