Creation of a real estate portfolio across Europe

N&T are a couple of extremely busy executives of major US corporations at CEO and MD level. They are based in Europe and both travel intensively from the USA to Asia. They wished to buy real estate properties to both diversify their current financial assets, and set up a family home for the future. They also wished to take advantage of favorable financial leverage while interest rates were at a historical low.

Since 2008, Dergatcheff has built for and with them an international real estate portfolio with properties in the UK, France, Spain and Switzerland.

For each property, Dergatcheff assessed the financial situation and N&T's long term goals. Together they defined a strategy tailored to their financial expectations and their personal tastes, real estate always involving an emotional input in addition to the prospect of financial return.

In each of the target countries, Dergatcheff S.A. carried out a dedicated search on the visible market with his partners and checked the unseen market through Dergatcheff S.A. business network. For each transaction, these clients with only scarce time available needed only a few hours in each city to visit the properties Dergatcheff had shortlisted along with all the elements needed for a swift decision.

Dergatcheff handled all negotiations towards an attractive and fair price in the given market situation and coordinated the transactions with legal and tax adviser, where necessary.

In parallel, Dergatcheff 's long standing reputation with local banks enabled Dergatcheff S.A. to secure for their clients the best mortgage offers, comprising not only low interest rates, but also legal and financial conditions non local buyers very seldom obtain.

For one of the items in N&T's investment portfolio, Dergatcheff initiated and monitored the completion of a real estate development on the newly acquired property that produced, within 2 years, a 140% return on invested funds while most financial and real estate markets were enduring very troubled times. Read more

Advisory of the CEO and founder of a new financial company based in London with a focus on emerging markets

AVMT is a London based consulting and capital services firm serving wealthy European family offices and international firms. It was founded in 2004 when Alexis turned entrepreneur after a lengthy and successful management career in Business, Finance, Law and Diplomacy.

Stephane Dergatcheff has counseled him since the onset and over the years significantly contributed to:


• Gearing development towards new business territories with ventures in Europe and emerging Eastern European markets

• Identifying investors for early stage projects through his international financial network

• Steering the young ventures through the turmoil of the 2008 crisis, thanks to his experience in venture capital gained in the 80's

Over the years, Dergatcheff's and AVMT's respective client and supplier network naturally grew, interconnected and multiplied. Read more

ADVISORY FOR A MAJOR RUSSIAN HOLDING (NO 100 privately Russian Co)

SD advised the main shareholder of XYZ, a major Russian holding company owning assets in diverse sectors such as one of the leaders in steel trading company, one of the most successful retail companies of the last decade and successfully expanding in the regions, a bank and various real estate companies.
The initial challenge was to overcome the lack of overall internal visibility among the scattered business lines that had been locally set up and had developed at varying paces at times of evolving economic and regulatory environment

Stephane Dergatcheff's invaluable advice led to:


• Reorganizing the individual business structures to ensure better overall visibility, sound corporate governance practices and transparency.

• Building on the small size of the 20 years active bank and the invaluable network of the main shareholder to orient the activity towards new advisory services for its customers

• Adapting the overall holding structure to improved management practices and clarity

• Gaining access to reduced loan rates at a time when Russian debt was very expensive

Thereby improving financial appeal and access to foreign investors and partnerships and expand abroad where and when necessary

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Acquisition and development of business assets in EU

Mikhail is a partner and an advisor to top 10 Russian businessmen. Having graduated from one of the top US business school, Mikhail had already high level experience and network, not only in CIS region, but also abroad. When he decided to acquire and expand his personal business in Western Europe, Mikhail turned to us for advice.

Mikhail had already acquired a factory in Western Europe, but had to face unexpected challenges. He had a clear and original vision, as many Russian businessmen who aren't afraid to step into new territories and new fields of activity. He understood perfectly that many things were about to change in the European energy industry and he intended to become a pioneer in the development of green energy.


Dergatcheff advised Mikhail to go beyond classical marketing studies and gain deeper insight in this market, to focus on the legal and financial aspects, the new expected trends, the local and European lobbying, the key success factors in this business, etc..

Through our network, our painstaking data collection and confidential meetings with key players in the field, Dergatcheff could present Mikhail with an accurate insider picture of this fast moving market. With reliable and significant information, Mikhail was enabled to make the right decisions for his new business in a field and a geographical area in which he had no prior experience. He could thereafter adapt swiftly to local constraints and use the strong personal managerial skills he had developed in Russia to successfully launch and manage this new business.

The experience he gained with Dergatcheff's advice led Mikhail to consolidate the return of this first acquisition and suspend further investment in the field until EU regulatory policies were stabilized Read more

Family relocation in Europe and Switzerland, comprehensive services

Dergatcheff's chief purpose as a financial advisory company is to help our clients to be more profitable. But our work, at times, goes far beyond!

Vladimir, a successful businessman operating in Russia, and his wife Anastasia wished for their family to avoid long Russian winters and for their 3 children to be brought up in a francophone country. He was ready to run his business by commuting to and from his home country.

They turned to Dergatcheff, early July for relocation to be effective by September, in time for their children to start school.

The challenge in a very short timeframe was to determine the target location, identify rental properties meeting the clients' requirements, negotiate a rental contract, secure residency permit for a non EU family and ensure the children's school enrolment.


Over this short time span in the slowdown of the holiday season, Dergatcheff

• Shortlisted 5 properties and procured within two weeks a lovely house over the French border with Swizerland and 15mn away from Geneva center and international airport. This specific area being in high demand Stephane Dergatcheff drew on his expertise and network in the unseen market and on his negotiating skills to secure a contract with the landlord.

• Coordinated administrative and legal procedures with the French authorities, the French consulate in Moscow and one of Dergatcheff's lawyers in Paris.

• Obtained for the whole family all legal documents to reside in France.

• Registered, past the normal deadlines, Vladimir and Anastasia's three children in elite Swiss schools for some and nearby French public schools for the others.

Within two months, Dergatcheff had completed the assignment and securely relocated the whole family.

We have come to understand that achieving long term financial profitability isn't our clients' only purpose. And when they approach us to help relocate in the UK, Switzerland, France, Italy or Spain we understand that for this particular matter they seek to rely on the same professionalism, integrity and responsiveness we demonstrate in financial advisory assignments and on the proficient network we have painstakingly built over generations. Read more

Advising the CEO of a young bank in a fast growing economy of the CIS region towards national and international development

BBB Bank was founded in 2007 by shareholders with a clearly defined long term vision, with a European orientation and strict reliability and transparency operating criteria in a country with lasting remains of soviet procedures.

Stephane Dergatcheff's prior work with the CEO on other matters had allowed them to build mutual trust and understanding so he was asked to join the project at an early stage. Two challenges were to be taken up:

• Develop on the national market in the face of local competition with a 20 years headway

• Venture abroad to Western markets where, at best, the country was barely known or, at worst, the country had a negative reputation.


Over the past 5 years, Stephane Dergatcheff contributed fresh vision and ideas to the strategy defined by BBB's Board and Management and instilled new skills and routines at middle management levels.

In order to shed past soviet mentality remnants the shareholders were determined to invest heavily in young employee training. In house training modules were set up by Stephane Dergatcheff as well as external seminars with top international banking institutions such as Geneva's ISFB, who were impressed by the advanced level of qualification shown by the trainees involved and their success at exams local bankers found hard to pass…

Furthermore, over the years Stephane Dergatcheff brought in elements of his network to contribute new ideas and special skills in their specific area of expertise. Stephane Dergatcheff triggered foreign partnerships with financial companies, banks and institutions that rapidly leveraged know how, products and networking.

Stephane Dergatcheff's close work with the CEO allowed steering the Bank's expansion both at the national level as well as in foreign markets, through the potential acquisition of existing banks and/or set up of a new financial company.

Only 7 years after its inception the bank received best awards in investment banking and in private banking …

Here again, the pioneering spirit helped develop both new services for the national market and a significant presence abroad where, despite the negative reputation of the country abroad, the bank itself was considered respectable.

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Advisory to a Hedge Fund

Fund XYZ is a Global Macro hedge fund whose return since inception in Oct. 2004 is + 111.70 %. During this period, the fund was positive in 2008 when most managers in the fund industry endured substantial losses. The offices of the Advisory Company are located in London, but the team also has people in Europe and in Turkey. Stephane Dergatcheff himself has been involved as external advisor for the past 7 years.

Fund XYZ has achieved this impressive and stable performance thanks to an extensive knowledge of the financial markets (all the fund's managers and advisors have more than 20 years market experience) including specialist expertise in emerging markets which have greatly contributed to the performance of the recent years.

Through his network and the mutual trust, Stephane Dergatcheff brings significant expertise of the emerging markets (and) mainly in Russia, but also in other CIS countries which offer less well-known but potentially valuable opportunities.

Stephane Dergatcheff is also advising the Fund XYZ with their marketing strategies in these promising regions through his extensive network of contacts and clients which he has developed over many years.

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