We are opportunistic investors.

Simply stated, we are value-oriented investors. In evaluating any investment opportunity, our investment philosophy is driven by the opportunity to purchase assets that, due to perceived risk, low liquidity, disinterest or a lack of understanding on the part of market participants, are undervalued.

We believe the most attractive opportunities are in world emerging markets.

Much of our past success has been the result of our comprehensive knowledge and understanding of emerging markets, in particular, the Russian and CIS markets. We believe there are still substantial opportunities in the world’s emerging markets and that we are well placed to take full advantage of them.

We are interested in investments over which we can exercise control or significant influence.

We typically make investments on the basis that we will have either majority or joint control or significant influence, through share ownership board representation, or both. Non-controlled investments are generally not attractive to us because the lack of control makes it difficult to guide the development of these companies and maximize shareholder value. Joint control is acceptable in cases where the joint venture partner is reliable and brings experience or skills that complement our own, or shares funding obligations and risks, which due to their size or nature, we wish to share.

We typically take a longer-term view, in order to realize the full potential of our investments.

The fact that we typically hold controlling stakes in the companies in which we invest makes any planned exit strategy tenuous. This is particularly true of direct, privately-held investments. We therefore take this time to do everything necessary to develop our investments, thus making them more attractive to a potential buyer. While we do not particularly welcome the inflexibility of being wed to an investment for the longer term, we lower our risks by seeking undervalued investments that provide ample down side protection and, when possible, interim cash flows.

Foreign investors provide not only capital investment, but also the expertise which is needed to successfully develop and realize the full value of our investments. We know from experience that the failure to attract longer-term foreign investment will result in under-developed assets and missed business opportunities. Also, with regard to exit strategy, sale to foreign investors provides us with a logical and attractive means of exiting our investments.

First and foremost we are investors, not business managers.

We do not consider ourselves experts in managing and operating the companies that we own — we leave the day-to-day management and operating decisions of our companies to professional, competent management with industry experience. Our companies are independent entities and are given fairly wide latitude to conduct their affairs. We do, however, actively advise and take decisions on important strategic matters that have an impact on the shareholder value of our companies. We also continually evaluate management and measure the financial performance of our investments.

We are guided by the philosophy of investing in only those companies that are leaders in their respective fields of business.

We require those in which we invest to be one of the top three in their business field or with a clear potential to become one of the top three within a reasonable period. Where we see that our investments are not meeting this criterion, we take active measures to divest and free up our financial and management resources for more effective investments.