RUSSIA GETS BUSINESS SAVVY SEARCH ENGINE

It is now possible to search Russia for offers or bids to sell or buy businesses via the Internet, by means of a special search engine called "Investor Searcher." According to its developers, the search engine is used to help a buyer find his bearings in a growing stream of proposals on the investment market. The Russian Internet contains more than 15,000 investment offers, Artyom Mochalov, one of the engine's developers and IT director of Respublikaidei.ru, told a news conference at RIA Novosti Thursday. He said that the search engine browses through thirty sites that provide information on investment projects and on the sale and purchase of businesses. Results of a search can be sorted according to the price of a business and the region in which it is found, Mochalov pointed out. "The data base is renewed every 30 minutes, which makes it possible to get the latest information on proposed businesses available," he said. Mochalov indicated that the Investor Searcher is a unique search engine on the Internet. In the US or Europe, the investment market is far more advanced than in Russia, he believes. The new engine, in his view, will help establish a Russian market for business trading.