Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) set up a subsidiary in Belgorod Region. The decision was made by the company’s Board of Directors on December 14, 2007. The new subsidiary, known as Prioskolskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise, is to be based in the town of Stariy Oskol. The enterprise will be developing Prioskolskiy iron ore deposit, located within 2,000 kilometers of MMK’s headquarters. The deposit has been estimated to contain 45.2 million tons of valuable ore and more than 2 billion tons of unoxidized carbonate-facies iron formation. MMK’s BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov and

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Plato Bank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years went down by 79.76% (from 2.821 million RUR to 571,000 RUR) in January-November 2007.

It has been recently revealed that Sverdlovsk Region Railways and South Ural Railways (parts of Russian Railways Public Company) violated the federal property management regulations. The public prosecution authorities found out that Sverdlovsk Region Railways has no proper control over the use and management of land allotments, with 15% of renting agreements never registered by the state or filed in the cadastral database. The company’s Perm division, for instance, never registered 5 million square meters worth of land allotments and did not officially file twelve renting agreements. Besides,

'Importing Japan cars to Russia should be no problem at all; today, we are allowed to import cars that are three to seven years old,’ CEO Sakura Cars Alexander Kipnis said to UrBC. Mr. Kipnis says all these cars are fitted with oxidation catalysts and low-emission systems, which means they all meet the international standards adopted in 2005. 'The suppliers will need a little more time to get all the papers ready, but our customers are not going to be affected price-wise,’ Mr. Kipnis notes. The ban on the import of cars that fail to meet the EURO 3 environmental standards will come

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year went down by 63.4% (from 35.041 million RUR to 12.825 million RUR) in January-November 2007.

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (ChTPZ Group’s largest tube and pipe manufacturers) supplied their consumers with 1,758,000 tons of tubular goods in January-November 2007, which is 11% better than in January-November 2006 when the figure only came to 1,577,000 tons. ChTPZ Group sold 973,800 tons of tubes and pipes in the eleven months of the year, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier (that is, 877,200 tons) by 11%. These figures include an 18% increase in the amount of large-diameter pipes: it came to 546,300 tons compared with only 463,600 tons of LDPs

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Bank UralSib valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 49.2% (from 390.137 million RUR to 198.1 million RUR) in January-November 2007.

'We had to search the premises of Ural Electronic Plant because of a suit that was filed by the local customs in regard to customs duty evasion,’ reported Valeriy Gorelikh, the press officer of Sverdlovsk Region Department of Internal Affairs. 'United Mediagroup was searched as well, since this company is located right on the premises of the plant. It’s too early to speak of any definite results yet,’ he added.

RUSAL’s Social Welfare Project Center’s Board of Trustees met in Krasnoyarsk to assess the results of the Center’s activity in 2007. The Center runs seven social projects in fourteen Russian cities and supports community service projects proposed by schoolchildren and young people. The Center also aims to promote amateur sports and educate children environmentally. All the projects are chosen through competitions, so all those applying for a grant have equal chances. ‘The year 2007 was a very fruitful one for us. The Center entered some new regions and set up branches in Sverdlovsk and

The volume of SKB-Bank’s net assets exceeded 28.6 billion RUR on December 1, 2007, which is 10 billion RUR better than at the beginning of the year, the bank’s press officer reports. In addition, the bank’s loan portfolio grew impressively as well, doubling since the beginning of the year and reaching 19.6 billion RUR on December 1, 2007. What is more, the bank was able to attract more than 25.6 billion RUR worth of investments, including 8 billion RUR deposited by private individuals. SKB-Bank is now one of Russia’s largest provincial banks in terms of subsidiary network development. The

The value of UralSib Management Company’s investment stock went down in December 2007 from 5,564.62 RUR on December 11, 2007 to 5,557.25 RUR on December 12, 2007. This information was published in compliance with the demand that any joint stock investment fund and/or a management company of unit investment trusts must promptly reveal any essential data that might influence their stock price.