Telenor Supports VimpelCom Dividend Cut
Norway's Telenor has a big enough cash flow to handle VimpelCom's dividend cut and it is sensible for Russia-focused VimpelCom to reduce its debt, chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas said Wednesday.
VimpelCom will slash its dividend to pay down debt piled up in an aggressive expansion drive, sending its shares sharply lower and also dragging down the Telenor stock.
"This will not put pressure on our cash flow," Baksaas said. "We have a cash flow that can handle this."
"It is sensible for VimpelCom to cut its debt, even if we could have differing views on the way it is done."
Telenor holds 33 percent of VimpelCom and 43 percent of voting rights. (Reuters)
Suleiman Kerimov to Sell $3.7Bln Polyus Gold Stake — Report
Tycoon Suleiman Kerimov is looking to cash out of gold producer Polyus Gold with the sale of his $3.7 billion stake in the latest of a series of divestments of large assets in Russian companies, Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
Preparations for the sale began last autumn, but Kerimov has still not managed to find a buyer, Vedomosti said, citing unnamed friends of Kerimov, bankers and people close to the management of Polyus Gold.
A spokesman from Nafta Moskva, Kerimov's holding company, denied the report on Wednesday. Kerimov is not looking for a buyer for his share of Polyus Gold and remains a strategic investor in the company, Anton Averin said, Prime reported. (RIA Novosti)
Bank of Moscow Fined $9.5M in U.S. Over Iran Transactions
Bank of Moscow has agreed to pay a $9.5 million fine to U.S. regulators for violating financial sanctions on Iran, the U.S. Treasury said.
The bank, which is run by the government-owned bank VTB, was penalized for authorizing 69 financial transfers for an Iranian bank via the U.S. worth about $41 million in 2008 and 2009, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement this week.
"Bank of Moscow's conduct resulted in significant harm to U.S. sanctions program objectives," OFAC said.
A spokesperson for Bank of Moscow confirmed that the bank had carried out the transactions, but noted they were authorized by former managers, and that the relevant U.S. sanctions on Iran were no longer in force. (RIA Novosti)
Russian and EU Agree to Use German Pipeline at Full Capacity
Russia and the European Union agreed that the Opal pipeline in Germany, a continuation of Russia's Nord Stream pipeline, should operate at full capacity, President Vladimir Putin said.
"We had certain problems about the Nord Stream's continuation, the Opal pipeline system in Germany. We have agreed that it should be used not at 50 percent [of its capacity], but at 100 percent. So progress has been achieved on certain very complicated issues," Putin said? Tuesday.
The Nord Stream's twin 1,224-kilometer pipelines run along the Baltic Sea bed from Portovaya Bay in Russia to Lubmin on Germany's Baltic Sea coast, with an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas.
The integrated twin pipeline system has the capacity to transport 55 bcm of gas a year when fully operational. (RIA Novosti)
Antitrust Watchdog Approves Prokhorov's Purchase of Uralkali Stake
The anti-monopoly regulator said it had approved a plan of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group to buy a 21.75 percent stake of major potash fertilizer company Uralkali.
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said the decision to sanction the deal was made on Monday. The regulator warned, however, that an investigation would be conducted if officials find that the deal had been started before the approval, Prime reported.
Prokhorov's Onexim Group announced the acquisition of the 21.75 percent stake in Uralkali from fellow billionaire Suleiman Kerimov back in December. A source familiar with the deal told Prime that companies close to Prokhorov bought an additional 5.34 percent of the potash giant.
The purchase price was not disclosed, but the source previously told Prime the shares would be valued at about 200 rubles ($6) apiece. (RIA Novosti)
Paid Parking to Expand
Moscow authorities are planning to introduce paid parking zones beyond the Garden Ring, the city's deputy mayor said.
The zones will mostly be located around offices, shopping centers and markets within the Third Ring Road, though further information about locations and price of parking is as of yet unavailable, Deputy Mayor Maxim Liksutov said Monday, Kommersant reported.
Further changes will be made in May 2014, with parking in the city center becoming free on Sundays and public holidays, and the city introducing inspectors to help regulate the zones.
Paid parking — first introduced to the city center in late 2012 in a bid to help tackle congestion — was expanded up to the borders of the downtown Boulevard Ring last June, and widened to the Garden Ring at the end of December. (MT)
Krasnoyarsk to Build Musical Roads
Authorities are looking to up the fun factor of traveling in Siberia with a proposal of "musical roads" to be built in the Krasnoyarsk region.
Musical roads are created by making grooves in the road surface that make sounds when driven over, and spacing them at specific intervals so that the sounds form a melody.
So far, only four countries in the world offer this type of entertainment — Denmark, Japan, South Korea and the U.S.
But the Krasnoyarsk region's state-run road management agency also has plans to create musical roads in the province, an agency spokesman said.
He gave no time frame and did not specify a melody to be played.
Melodies currently played by musical roads worldwide include "The William Tell Overture," "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and Japanese pop tunes. (RIA Novosti)
Mexican Airlane to Start Flying Sukhoi Superjets to U.S.
Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100 passenger aircraft will start flights to the U.S. in the coming months, according to the head of a Mexican low-cost airline that has SSJ-100s in service.
On Jan. 22, the plane's designers and manufacturers met with officials from the Interjet air carrier, the first Western company that purchased an SSJ-100, the Sukhoi aircraft maker said in a statement on Tuesday.
"According to the plan, we are opening new routes … and the first SSJ-100 flight to the U.S. will take place soon," Interjet president Miguel Aleman Magnani said at the meeting.
Interjet representatives "spoke positively of the plane's performance and the quality and variety of the after-sale services," the statement said.
The Mexican airline has signed a contract with Superjet International worth $800 million to purchase 20 Superjets. (RIA Novosti)
Omsk Wife Pays Off Husband's Debt With 30 Kilograms of Kopeks
The wife of an Omsk businessman attempted to pay off his 7,000 ruble debt ($200) with a basket filled with 30 kilograms of 10 kopek coins.
Marshals acting on behalf of a local labor board went to the businessman's shop to collect 7,000 rubles he owed for various penalties. The men were greeted by his wife, who after initial resistance, pointed to a basket in the corner of the room and said: Take it!," the Omsk region court marshals' press office said.
After taking the coins to the bank, it was discovered that the basket only contained 4,000 rubles, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported Wednesday. Returning to the shop, the collection agents were told they would have to wait for the basket to fill again. Only after spelling out the penalties were they given the remainder of the money. (MT)