The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it had bought 3.8 percent of Russian transport and shipping firm Fesco FESH.RTS for $120 million.
Fesco is majority controlled by the group Industrial Investors, led by former energy minister Sergei Generalov.
In July, Fesco raised $640 million from selling new shares and said it would use the money to buy assets.
Last year it also raised $420 million in two share issues as it seeks to expand its presence in Russia's key foreign trade gateways.
It struck a deal in 2007 to buy control of the Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port on Russia's Pacific coast. Apart from the Far East, Fesco operates on the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
The total amount of container operations by companies in the group was 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2007, up 30 percent from 2006.
Fesco, based in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, has a fleet of around 70 vessels and went into the railway delivery business in 2004 after setting up a joint venture with the state monopoly Russian Railways.
It has said it wanted to merge its sea and railway assets to create an all-Russian multi-faceted shipper.
Net profit rose by 58 percent in 2007 to $103 million, while revenue was up 51 percent at $872 million.Fesco and the EBRD have a long history of cooperation. In 1994, the bank helped finance the acquisition of three new container vessels with the proceeds of a $32.7 million loan.
Founded in 1880 as the Far East Shipping Co., Fesco sold a minority stake in 2006 to Swedish fund manager East Capital, which came to control 9.8 percent of the company.
Fesco is majority controlled by the group Industrial Investors, led by former energy minister Sergei Generalov.
In July, Fesco raised $640 million from selling new shares and said it would use the money to buy assets.
Last year it also raised $420 million in two share issues as it seeks to expand its presence in Russia's key foreign trade gateways.
It struck a deal in 2007 to buy control of the Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port on Russia's Pacific coast. Apart from the Far East, Fesco operates on the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
The total amount of container operations by companies in the group was 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2007, up 30 percent from 2006.
Fesco, based in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, has a fleet of around 70 vessels and went into the railway delivery business in 2004 after setting up a joint venture with the state monopoly Russian Railways.
It has said it wanted to merge its sea and railway assets to create an all-Russian multi-faceted shipper.
Net profit rose by 58 percent in 2007 to $103 million, while revenue was up 51 percent at $872 million.Fesco and the EBRD have a long history of cooperation. In 1994, the bank helped finance the acquisition of three new container vessels with the proceeds of a $32.7 million loan.
Founded in 1880 as the Far East Shipping Co., Fesco sold a minority stake in 2006 to Swedish fund manager East Capital, which came to control 9.8 percent of the company.