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Don't call it a comeback, but two months after Russia essentially defaulted on its foreign debt and devalued its currency, the embattled country is seeing the first sparks of renewed interest from the investment community.
The World Fund Inc. formally launches a new Russia fund aimed at retail investors later this month; while Germany's Westdeutsche Landesbank AG, or West LB, recently completed the largest Russian bank loan in the wake of the economic crisis-a $105 million credit facility for Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK), the country's fifth largest oil producer.
"To call Russia a safe haven would be the most supreme of ironies," said Dan Peirce, head of emerging markets research at BankBoston. "But in an environment where Russia has gotten really clocked, and Brazil is very much in the forefront of...