In late 2001, the Russian financial services group Alfa Bank sponsored the first performance of Michael Flatley’s show Lord of the Dance in Moscow. Two decades later, on December 29 last, the bank launched the latest tranche of bonds listed on the Euronext Dublin exchange in a long-running, multi-billion-dollar programme. The two dates book-end a period of growing use by Alfa Bank of Irish corporate structures, professional services firms and EU market access, which also featured participation in the hunt for Sean Quinn’s Russian assets. Unlike its state-controlled competitors, the privately-owned conglomerate has so far escaped US and European sanctions…

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