On June 7, 2016 AO UniCredit Bank held an event dedicated to the Elite UniCredit CEE Lounge program, an innovative initiative that enables ambitious private companies to accelerate their growth, at the Bank’s headquarter in Moscow. The main goal of the event was to provide detailed and first-hand information about broad opportunities of the program that is why the main participants of the event were representatives of the mid-market corporate clients of the Bank which have already been selected for the program or are interested in its potential.

The event was opened by Member of the Board, Head of CIB Division of UniCredit Bank, Kirill Zhukov-Emelyanov. After that Giacinto Oriolo, representative of London Stock Exchange Group, held a speech about Elite program and its values for ambitious companies for their further growth. A very important part of the event became two speeches held by Ruben Arutyunyan, CEO of  Henderson, and Mikhail Dudyshev, CFO of Anix – two companies, which were included into the first cohort of UniCredit CEE Lounge in December 2015. Mr. Arutyunyan and Mr. Dudyshev shared their real experience as participants of the program who have already begun their third of eight executive training and coaching modules. Maxim Titov, Head of Mid Market Moscow and Central Region Unit at UniCredit Bank, acted as the moderator of the discussions.  
Elite UniCredit CEE Lounge program included companies from nine countries across UniCredit’s network in Central and Eastern Europe. Together, these companies represent €1 billion in aggregate revenues and employ more than 11,000 people. 4 companies are clients of UniCredit Bank Russia - Anix, Gruppa SverdlovElectro (SVEL), Henderson and Uralplastic-N.

ELITE UniCredit CEE Lounge provides companies  with comprehensive services for organizational and management development to help fast track their growth. Launched by London Stock Exchange Group, ELITE provides companies with access to the world class executive training and coaching that is supported by leading European business schools, industry experts and entrepreneurs; a working zone supported by a tutorship model and direct contact with Europe’s financial and advisory community.
The ELITE environment helps to make fast growing companies more aware of the various funding options available to them while improving their “readiness” to face investors. It also brings growing businesses together, giving them the opportunity to inspire each other, exchange ideas, share best practices and identify mutual business opportunities.