Inna Bazhenova in 2012 at the launch of The Art Newspaper Russia

The sanctions against Russia instigated by the US and the EEC have created uncertainty in the Russian art market with both sellers and buyers wanting to see if the situation becomes better or worse before committing themselves to transactions. This is hardly surprising considering all the negative news of late such as the trio of former Goldman Sachs executives pulling out of their proposed US$2bn fund to invest in Russia, Total putting their leading joint venture with Lukoil to explore shale oil in western Siberia on hold and a stream of US business leaders such as Steven Schwarzman of Blackstone saying they will not invest further in Russia. Equally the special prosecutor on Moscow has recently proposed retaliatory legislation that would allow the Russian confiscation of non-Russian owned assets in Russia. Some might argue that, taking a long-term view this is the moment to load up on Russian assets. However, this doesn’t really apply to art as prices have not come down.

Amidst the doom and gloom Russians are becoming more involved in the art market itself. The investor Sergey Skaterschikov bought the magazine ARTnews earlier in the year and the Moscow-based Mercury Group has owned Phillips since 2008. It has just been announced that the businesswoman and art collector Inna Bazhenova has bought the Art Newspaper and its licensed offshoots in China, France and Greece. Earlier in the year Bazhenova lent 11 paintings to an exhibition drawn from Private Russian Collections held in Moscow which included masterworks from the collections of the likes of Dudakov and Aven. She was already the publisher of the Art Newspaper Russia and says she wants to continue to develop the paper whilst respecting its independence.

An article on the subject follows from the Art Newspaper:-

Art Newspaper. Web only, 2nd October 2014

The Art Newspaper is to have a new owner, the mathematician, engineer and collector, Inna Bazhenova, who has been the publisher of The Art Newspaper Russia since 2012, it was announced today at London’s Tate gallery, introduced by its director, Nicholas Serota.
The sale agreement boosts the financial backing of the paper and allows it to build a greater internet presence.

Umberto Allemandi, the founder of the Giornale dell’Arte and The Art Newspaper network, now honorary president, said: “After 50 years in the business, I need to think of the future. I require four things: total independence from outside interference; intelligent choice of news; scrupulous attention to the facts, and indifference to economic advantage. I want my 50 years to have a legacy, so I have chosen Inna. I pass the baton to her because she and her husband Dmitry are young, they are honest and have convinced me that they share my ideals.”

Inna Bazhenova said: “I feel very fortunate to be the new owner of The Art Newspaper. The quality of its journalism and scholarship are outstanding and its excellent coverage of international art news is vital in our global environment. When I started collecting art, I realised it was absolutely essential reading. I want to reassure you that The Art Newspaper will retain complete editorial independence, now and for as long as I own it. My aim is to invest in it so that it may remain as good as it is today.”

The Art Newspaper, founded in 1990, is one of the leading reporters of art news worldwide. Unique in its conception and scope, it publishes news, interviews, reviews and debate about the art world, every month covering everything from antiquity to the contemporary. Its international readership is made up of artists, collectors, museum directors, consultants, dealers, trustees, auctioneers, curators, public policy-makers and those with a professional as well as personal interest in the global art market.

The businesswoman and art collector Inna Bazhenova was born in 1968. She grew up in Nizhny Novgorod, a city in the Volga region of the USSR and began her career as an engineer in the state aeronautics industry. In 1994, she set up the first of a group of companies using aeronautics technologies in the design and manufacture of pumping equipment for oil and gas, and later co-founded another company that made drilling equipment for the energy industry. She now has interests in a number of associated businesses with her husband, Dmitry Samorukov.

She started collecting about ten years ago and embarked on a quest to collect and learn about art. In 2010, after extensive research, she approached The Art Newspaper, which granted her a licence to publish a Russian edition. In 2012, when she and her husband had become friends with the owner of The Art Newspaper, Umberto Allemandi, and with its founder editor, now CEO, Anna Somers Cocks, they approached him with an offer to buy it, which he accepted. Inna Bazhenova, her husband and five children live in Moscow and in the UK.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Russian-engineering-entrepreneur-buys-The-Art-Newspaper/35722