An outlet of OBI, the German seller of building materials, finishing stuffs, and gardening equipment and stuffs, has introduced its first store in Yekaterinburg. The company’s annual output is estimated at ?6.5bn; there used to be four stores in Russia altogether, and another six outlets will have been set up before the end of the year. The annual turnover of Sverdlovsk Region amounts to almost 500bn RUR, reports the spokesperson for the Governor.

Pipe Metallurgical Company determined the price range for the upcoming initial public offering of its ordinary shares and Global Depositary Receipts today. The enterprise is planning to offer the GDRs at London Stock Exchange and to offer the ordinary shares at Russian Trading System, another bourse. These shares will be offered by the company’s shareholder TMK Steel Limited. The prices range from $4.60 to $5.40 per ordinary share and from $18.40 to $21.60 per GDR, each GDR representing four shares. This price range is in compliance with the enterprise’s market capitalization of $4-$4.7bn The

A circulating degasifying facility is going to be installed in the converter shop of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group). The machine is almost ready to start operating, with the company’s technicians finishing the assembling of the main blocks and the power supplying system. The equipment was supplied by SMS Mevag of Germany as a few departments of this machine building concern have already taken part in a number of investment project carried out by the Complex. ‘The facility is meant for removing harmful gases obtained in the process of heat from the

Sverdlovsk Region Power Committee approved of IES Multiutilities Ltd. as Guaranteeing supplier within the region, reports the spokesperson for the company. The decision was taken at yesterday’s meeting, when six more companies were able to prove this status. The Committee will come up with the final decisions as to the distribution of powers of the suppliers on October 24, 2006.

Bodo Schäfer, money coach, businessperson and author, arrived in Yekaterinburg. He is globally known as financial Mozart, with his books (Money, or the ABC of finances, The Path to Financial Independence, and Money Does Women Good) as well as his seminar scripts enjoying popularity all over the world, including Russia. A lot of people have used them as financial and time-management textbooks. This entrepreneur is going to conduct a public seminar on October 18, 2006 and a workshop for the businesspersons of Ural Federal District, aimed at giving them some practical tips and tools for

Vanadium Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise of Kachkanar approved of the production plan for the fourth quarter of 2006. As there appears to be more demand for the company’s produce, the management decided to raise its output. The plan provides for more ore, agglomerate and pellet production. The company has been developing Gusevogorskoye deposit of titaniferous magnetite ore with 16% iron content. Since it uses effective methods of ore processing, the enterprise manages to get ore concentrate with up to 61% iron content with the following treatment of the agglomerate and the pellets.

The population of Chelyabinsk Region was supposed to receive 6,250 mortgage loans in 2006. According to the South Ural Mortgage Lending Agency, the local banks have already issued 6,096 loans worth 4.4bn RUR, Chelyabinsk Region Minister for Construction, Infrastructure, and Roads Valeriy Shopov announced at the meeting devoted to fulfillment of federal projects chaired by Governor Petr Sumin. ‘The regional public tariff committee decided on the price line for one square meter of housing, ranging from 1,000 RUR in Agapovskiy District to 22,000 RUR in Chelyabinsk. These figures will be used