Canadian Lawyer InHouse

I.M.P. GROUP INTERNATIONAL INC. GENERAL COUNSEL BERNIE O'ROURKE SAYS DESPITE THE CHALLENGES OF HIS FIRST FORAY INTO RUSSIA, HE'D DO BUSINESS THERE AGAIN. WHAT DO CANADIAN IN-HOUSE COUNSEL NEED TO KNOW BEFORE TAKING THE PLUNGE IN THAT REGION? By Richard Foot most liquid asset available in Canada — the fuel in the wings of an Aerofl ot plane parked at the airport in Montreal. A decade later the partners had patched up their diff erences and the Aerostar Hotel was B going strong. But in 2004, during the crazy, gangland economy that emerged aſt er the col- lapse of the Soviet Union, I.M.P. had its hotel simply taken away from it, eff ectively at gun- point, by what O'Rourke obliquely calls a "Russian business organization." Years of legal and diplomatic lobbying ensued, at the highest levels of the Canadian and Russian governments, until a negotiated settlement was fi nally agreed on by all sides. I.M.P. withdrew from Russia, and, stung by its experience there, has never returned. Th e Aerostar aff air became a cautionary tale — a symbol for many business people across North America of the high risks of doing business in Russia. How surprising then to learn that O'Rourke, for all the sleepless nights he and other I.M.P. executives endured over Russia, says he would happily go back there today if the right op- portunity presented itself. He doesn't buy into what he calls the many myths that have grown up about the diffi culties and pitfalls of investing there. "I'm bullish on Russia," he says. "If an opportunity came up there again that we found attractive, and it would have to have the right rate of return to justify the risk, we'd look at it again, I think we would. "Our senior management team — we all kind of miss the whole Russian scene." O'Rourke also endorses a recent call-to-arms by the Canadian Eurasia Russia Business Association — whose members include a handful of Canadian law fi rms with offi ces in Moscow — that Canadian business must overcome its squeamishness about Russia and start to invest in what is now the 10th largest economy in the world. One of CERBA's directors, Lou Naumovski, vice president and general director (who INHOUSE APRIL 2012 • 19 ernie O'Rourke knows the dark side of doing business in Russia. As the senior vice president and longtime general counsel of I.M.P. Group International Inc., a Halifax-based hotel and aero- space company, O'Rourke has twice fought legendary legal battles to protect his company's interests in Russia. I.M.P. was a pioneering, western investor in the twilight years of the Soviet Union, spending $50 million to refurbish and operate the now- infamous Aerostar Hotel Moscow. In 1994, fi ve years aſt er the hotel's re-opening, O'Rourke fended off an attempt by I.M.P.'s partner, Aero- fl ot, to wrestle I.M.P. out of the venture. He and his legal team won their case at the International Court of Arbitration in Stockholm, and then forced Aerofl ot to obey the court's decision by seizing the airline's DAN CALLIS

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