The Moscow Times

Market Matters: Struggling Stocks Spur New Record Oil Prices
Oil hit another record of just under $143 as global stocks tumbled last week, with the Dow briefly dipping into bear market territory as investors sought safety in gold, government debt and the Swiss franc.

Business

Putin to Talk Gas and Arms in Libya
By Max Delany / Staff Writer President Vladimir Putin will become the first Russian leader to visit Libya when he arrives in the country Wednesday at the invitation of its leader, Moammar Gadhafi, the Kremlin said in a statement Monday.

PwC Loses 2nd Appeal on Tax Claim
By Alex Nicholson / Bloomberg The Moscow District Arbitration Court rejected a second appeal by PricewaterhouseCoopers's Russian unit against a 380 million ruble ($16 million) back tax claim, a spokeswoman for the auditor said.

Gazprom Wins Huge Field in Yakutia
By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer For the first time in the country's post-Soviet history, a field is awarded without competition.

Inter RAO Inks Serbia Power Deal
Reuters Electricity trader Inter RAO and Serbian power monopoly EPS on Monday signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership deal that could see the two companies build power plants together and also join forces abroad.

Turkmens Offer Gas Supplies to EU
The Associated Press Turkmenistan has agreed to supply the European Union with 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from next year, EU officials said Monday.

Jeweled Faberge Icon to Dazzle New York
By Katya Kazakina / Bloomberg A Faberge icon in a silver frame studded with rubies, sapphires and emeralds and a gigantic tsarist-era porcelain centerpiece are among the Russian treasures headed for auction at Sotheby's in New York this week.

Budget Funds Up for Grabs
Reuters The government will hold its first auction to place budget funds among commercial banks on Wednesday or Thursday to support liquidity in the banking system, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Monday, Interfax reported.

Potash Pushes Uralkali Up to Record
Bloomberg Uralkali, the company developing the world's second-largest potash deposit, on Monday rose to a record in London trading after it said prices might exceed $1,000 a ton, a fivefold increase from last year.

Payments to Officials Send Prices Soaring
By Tai Adelaja / Staff Writer Real estate developers have blamed the huge disparity between construction costs and sale prices for Moscow apartments on a range of ""administrative expenses"" -- a combination of official fees and gray payments -- to city officials and government structures.

Luzhkov Rues State of Tower
The Moscow Times The 150-meter Shukhov television tower on Ulitsa Shabolovka, one of the city's most famous structures and a symbol of the Russian avant-garde, is in a ""disgraceful state,"" Mayor Yury Luzhkov said last week, Interfax reported.

IPOs in Russia: Where and How Are They Offered?
By Vladislav Kvetinsky Since 2003, the subject of IPOs has become unusually popular among business media, which have sometimes formed euphoric notions among Russian business managers and owners about this method of capital procurement, as if it is a magic wand capable making a business and its owners rich in a moment.

Russian IPO/SPO Market -- Key Trends and Outlook
By Igor Katusha Negative trends in the international financial markets and fear of global recession caused by events in the U.S. mortgage credit market has created negative conditions for placements made in 2007. Despite complex market conditions, 2007 saw a record Russian IPOs and SPOs. The total volume of IPOs and SPOs by 28 Russian companies reached $31 billion, including 22 IPOs totaling $21 billion, twice as much as in 2006.

DD for IPO
By A.S. Yermolenko The first of the abbreviations used in this headline was established in business vocabulary long ago. The procedure it denotes is popular in economic practice. The very phrase ""due diligence"" -- literally, ""due care"" or ""due attention"" -- is used to denote the overall audit of company activity, as well as separate audits of other components of business: legal, tax, financial, construction or corporate due diligence. In most cases, such an audit is conducted by the investor at the purchase of someone's business or when making a decision regarding participation in someone's business.

IPO Trends in Russia
By Marchello Gelashvili and Galina Shilina Despite the global credit crunch, 2007 was still a record-breaking year for IPOs, with 30 listings by CIS and Russian domiciled companies generating $34 billion. Investors continued to focus on large deals, with a median deal size of $614.2 million.

How to Sell the Future to Investors: The Role of Investor Relations Before, During and After the IPO
By John Rose Investor relations should ideally begin years before a company registers to float its shares on a stock exchange. Unfortunately, companies often make little to no investment in investor relations until just before or even after the IPO -- sometimes ignoring shareholders, hiding from bankers and spending as little time as possible with fund managers and institutional investors.

More Opportunities for Russian Issuers in 2008
By Elena Khisamova The positive dynamic of Russian ECM volumes over the past several years is a clear sign that the local market has entered a new phase of its development and become a stable source of long-term capital.

Trutnev Plans to Fire City Forestry Chief
By John Wendle / Staff Writer The Natural Resources Ministry said Friday that it would fire the head of the Moscow branch of the Federal Forestry Agency over contentious auctions for land leases near the elite Rublyovskoye Shosse.

Date Set for Azov-City Land Sales
The Moscow Times The Krasnodar region announced Monday that it would hold auctions for land plots in the planned Azov-City gambling center on July 1.

Severstal Splits in 3, Eyes M&A Targets
By Robin Paxton / Reuters Severstal, the country's largest steel maker, is splitting its business into three divisions and considering further acquisitions in North America, Europe and Africa, senior company executives said on Monday.

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