LONDON, April 17. /TASS/. Western businesses that departed the Russian market, still demonstrate "tepid interest" in returning, though some companies remaining in the country, which have been trying to exit the Russian market, are now postponing such plans, Financial Times wrote, citing sources.
The return of Italy’s household appliances maker Ariston to Russia was made public earlier in March. This comes after Russia’s subsidiary of Ariston was removed from the list of firms on which temporary management was introduced. The Russian authorities are using this example to show Western companies "a path back into the Russian market" amid a nascent thaw between Moscow and Washington since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the newspaper said.
Moscow market participants told the publication that they had only seen "small signs of tepid foreign interest." Some foreign companies that have still been trying to withdraw from the Russian market, for instance, are now delaying such plans until they see how the situation develops, according to people involved in such deals.
One senior executive in the commodities sector reported that representatives of large international commodity traders had recently been seen in Moscow having breakfast and lunch with representatives of large Russian commodity firms. Some investment bank representatives had also been seen in Moscow, he added.
Meanwhile, the paper’s sources cautioned that they did not expect an influx of foreign investment to Russia or a return of publicly listed US companies, the article said.