VEB Buys Deputy’s Factory
State-owned Vneshekonombank bought Amurmetall for an undisclosed price to keep workers at the only steelmaker in the Far East in their jobs.
The purchase will enable Amurmetall, formerly majority owned by State Duma Deputy Alexander Shishkin, to double its capacity to 2.1 million tons, restore profitability and preserve the jobs of 6,100 employees, the lender said Friday on its web site.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is chairman of VEB, which bought full control of the steel company.
(Bloomberg, MT)
Bonds OK for Pension Fund
Russia’s state pension fund may be allowed to invest up to 40 percent of its cash in corporate bonds, as well as put money in mortgage bonds and foreign currency deposits, Finance Ministry documents showed Friday.
Under the Finance Ministry’s proposals, the fund may be allowed to invest in bonds of companies whose credit ratings are no more than one notch below Russia’s or whose debts are guaranteed by the state. (Reuters)
Severstal’s Output Falls 28%
Severstal produced 28 percent less crude steel in the second quarter of 2009 than a year ago as output at its domestic and Italian facilities declined sharply.
Severstal said on Friday that second-quarter crude steel production totaled 3.81 million tons, while average prices for rolled products fell 41 percent year on year to $582 per ton. (Reuters)
VTB Issue Only for Owners
Subscriptions for an issue of new shares by VTB will open for existing shareholders on Aug. 4, a source close to VTB told Reuters on Friday.
VTB plans to raise no less than 180 billion rubles ($5.73 billion) by issuing new shares both to existing shareholders and on the market. (Reuters)
June Oil Output Up 1.3%
Russia’s oil production rose 1.37 percent in July against the previous year on production from new fields.
Oil output rose to 41.92 million tons, or 9.91 million barrels a day, in July, according to CDU-TEK, the Energy Ministry’s central dispatch unit.
Output from Rosneft, LUKoil and TNK-BP grew year on year as new developments added output. Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz failed to pump as much oil as in the same period last year. (Bloomberg)
TNK-BP to Open 5 Fields
TNK-BP will start pumping oil from five new fields in Siberia in 2013 and 2014 to boost production as aging reserves go into decline, the company said on its web site last week.
The deposits may hold 7.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, potentially adding 500,000 barrels a day of crude and gas to TNK-BP’s output capacity, the company said. (Bloomberg)
GM, AvtoVAZ Halt Factory
General Motors and AvtoVAZ plan to suspend production at a jointly owned car plant in August in response to the country’s shrinking auto market, the venture said Friday in a statement.
The GM-AvtoVAZ factory that makes Chevrolet Niva sport-utility vehicles will halt production on Aug. 3, coinciding with a month-long production shutdown at AvtoVAZ. (Bloomberg)
Kangaroo Traders Eye China
Kangaroo meat traders in Australia are turning to China as a new market after a ban by Russia on imports threatens the 270 million Australian dollar ($222.6 million) industry.
Russia, which from Monday implemented a ban of meats from 30 different countries, is Australia’s biggest kangaroo meat customer, taking 70 percent of its exports. Russia cited bacterial contamination concerns as the reason for the ban. (Bloomberg)
MTS to Buy Comstar Stake?
Mobile TeleSystems will buy 51 percent of Comstar United TeleSystems for $1.28 billion, or $5.98 a share, Kommersant reported, citing an unidentified person.
The board of Sistema, which controls 53 percent of Mobile TeleSystems, known as MTS, and 51 percent of Comstar, plans to define the details of the purchase on Aug. 5, the newspaper cited the person as saying. (Bloomberg)
For the Record
- VTB Group said it completed its 750 million Swiss francs ($701 million) bond sale, the biggest issue in the currency by a Russian company. (Bloomberg)
- Agco chairman and CEO Martin Richenhagen said last week that the company will start assembling Massey Ferguson and Challenger brand tractors and combines in Russia as early as next year. (Bloomberg)
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