The arrest of Michael Calvey in Russia rattles foreign businesses

ONE OF MODERN Russia’s oldest and largest investment funds, Baring Vostok Capital Partners (BVCP) was launched in 1994. It has raised $3.7bn in capital, investing $2.8bn into 80 companies across the former Soviet Union, including some of Russia’s leading firms, such as its tech star, Yandex. Vedomosti, Russia’s top business daily, called the company “the symbol of direct investment in Russia”. BVCP’s American founder, Michael Calvey, has been unwaveringly bullish about the Russian market through crises, recessions and geopolitical tensions, staying put even as other foreign investors wound down their businesses after Russia annexed Crimea and launched a war in eastern Ukraine. Even in a country where business disputes can get messy, he was one of the last people anyone would expect to find behind bars.