Detsky Mir, which started as a Soviet-style department store across from KGB headquarters in Moscow, rode demand from a growing middle class over the past two decades to become a $1.1 billion-a-year company. Last fall it announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange early in 2014. Then came Pres Vladimir Putin's grab for Crimea, and now Detsky Mir has put the IPO on hold, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. Detsky Mir isn't alone. Even as Europe and the US have refrained from imposing all- out economic sanctions, Russian companies are suffering as investors flee the country. Canceled IPOs, suspended loan negotiations, plummeting share prices -- all are part of an estimated $50 billion in private investment that has left Russia since Jan 1, according to economist Neal Shearing of Capital Economics in London.