‘We cannot provide any comments at the moment; no sales agreement has been signed so far, and I believe the whole thing might take up to a month to get through with,’ says Demidov Business Center’s press officer Oleg Zemtsov.

In the meantime, Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company (UMMC) is rumored to have bought 50% of KlaasStroy’s shares (the latter being Demidov’s current developer).

The business center’s representatives denied any chance of their signing a contract with UMMC as early as July 8, 2008. They claimed UMMC was not investing anything in the construction process and never proved the fact of them actually acquiring the 50% shareholding; nor did any of the company’s management show up at the construction site.

UMMC, in its turn, declared its rights over Demidov and informed the public about the purchase transaction on May 29, 2008.

KlaasStroy denies UMMC’s claims, saying the latter might be getting ready for a raiding-style takeover.