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Krasnodar Named Best City
Krasnodar is the best city in Russia for business, according to rankings by Forbes magazine -- holding on to the position it was awarded last year.
The magazine ranked the 30 most populous cities, excluding Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Northern Caucasus, by factors such as the city's business environment, infrastructure and advantages for business as well as comfort for visiting businessmen. Kazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk round out the top five. (MT)
RZD to Borrow $500M
Russian Railways, or RZD, said Friday that it planned to borrow $500 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and was in talks with the World Bank to sell bonds backed by the state.
State-run RZD expects to get the EBRD loan, of between 10 years and 15 years, in July or August, vice president Fyodor Andreyev said in Sochi. RZD is also in "early" talks with the World Bank on issuing its bonds, which the bank may itself invest in, Andreyev said. (Bloomberg)
Siemens Cancels Office Deal
Siemens and canceled an agreement to build an office complex in Moscow, the real estate developer said in a statement Friday.
Sistema-Hals said it would pay 18 million euros ($25 million) to Siemens by Sunday to settle all obligations and could then develop the project at its own discretion. The builder also reported a net loss of $63.5 million in the first quarter, compared with net income of $26.6 million a year earlier. (Bloomberg)
Egypt Wants Russian Wheat
Egypt does not plan to stop importing Russian wheat after cargoes of grain from the country were detained on quality concerns, Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said Sunday.
Egypt's public prosecutor ordered the seizure of a Russian wheat cargo of 52,500 tons on May 14, pending a probe into allegations that some of the grain is inedible. Russia's agricultural watchdog said May 20 that the country's wheat shipped to Egypt complied with contract terms and health standards. (Bloomberg)
Russia Buys Canadian Trains
Russian Railways plans to buy 54 commuter trains from Canada's Bombardier for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, vice president Fyodor Andreyev said Friday.
The contract will be worth between 500 million euros ($700 million) and 550 million euros, he said in the Black Sea resort. (Bloomberg)
Mineral Deposits in Fund
The government has drafted an order on including mineral deposits into a special reserve fund to help meet future national demand.
The federal fund will comprise undistributed oil fields with recoverable reserves of more than 30 million tons, as well as fields in regions with developed transport and production infrastructure, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said Thursday.
Once included in the reserve, fields will not be distributed to investors without a special decision by the federal government to exclude them from the fund, the ministry said. (Bloomberg)
TNK Consolidation Revived
TNK-BP Holding revived a plan to unite four units that hold more than 5 percent of the company's shares, Interfax reported, citing the company.
The majority shareholders of the oil producer voted against a plan to combine the units in October because of the global crisis. (Bloomberg)
Pharmaceuticals Price Cap
Russia plans to cap retail drug prices after the cost of medicine surged, the Health and Social Development Ministry said Friday in the state's Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.
The planned measures should result in a 10 percent decrease in the price of drugs in Moscow, it said. (Bloomberg)
Polymetal Expects Profit
Precious metals miner expects to return to profit in the first half of 2009 and will look to refinance its $300 million short-term debt, its chief executive said Friday.
"We think 2009 is stacking up to be a very successful year for us from the point of view of prices and the weakening of the ruble, which helps keep our costs down," Vitaly Nesis said in an interview. (Reuters)
Turkmens Count Investment
Foreign investment in Turkmenistan's section of the Caspian Sea should reach $3.8 billion this year, said Dovlet Atabayev, the Turkmen president's energy envoy to Europe, Interfax reported Friday.
Foreign spending offshore hit $2.2 billion last year, up from $800 million in 2007, he said. (Bloomberg)
