Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) took part in the 3d conference on corporate web portals and blogs for metallurgical businesses. The event was coordinated by Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt (the magazine), the Russian Union of Metal Goods Suppliers, and Metal-Expo. The conference was part of the international industrial fairs devoted to metallurgical machinery, technologies, and produce (Metallurgy. Litmash 2008), Russian pipes (Pipes. Russia 2008), and non-ferrous metals (Aluminum/Tsvetmet 2008) held in Moscow on May 27-30, 2008. The 3d conference on corporate web portals and blogs for

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in TagilBank valid for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 64.05% (from 15.3 million RUR to 5.5 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

295,000 square meters of housing were put up in Sverdlovsk Region in January-April 2008, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 23%. In thirty-one cities and districts, the volume of housing was also greater that that registered in January-April 2007. Twenty-six regional municipalities managed to increase their housing construction rate by over 20% against last year’s figures. Yekaterinburg, with its 117,000 square meters of housing (35.6% better than in January-April 2007), tops this list and is followed by Verkhnyaya Pyshma (27,800 square meters of housing – a 44% increase),

‘Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company acquired 50% of Demidov Business Center, but Andrei Kositsin and I agreed that this should not affect the construction process,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced at a press conference on May 29, 2008. Nevertheless, Demidov representatives complained earlier that UMMC was getting ready for a raider-style hostile takeover. ‘As far as the proprietors’ feuds are concerned, I believe they have to handle this issue without the Governor’s involvement,’ Eduard Rossel noted.

‘We haven’t received any acquisition proposals from DON-stroy, moreover, no company has ever offered to buy our business, so all this talk is no more than gossip,’ General Director of Atomstroycomplex Construction Administration Valeriy Ananiev announced at a press conference. In the meantime, some media report Atomstroycomplex might have been bought by DON-stroy, the Moscow-based developer.

Aston, the local developer, might be unable to complete its Nakhimov Plaza trade and office center at 9 Vainer St before the deadline. According to the company’s Chairman Vyacheslav Trapeznikov, the technical commissioning of the building was originally scheduled for June 2008. However, the outer walls of the building haven’t been quite finished yet, while the interior furnishing only began a very short while ago. Besides, the original deadline for the completion of the building was determined at the fourth quarter of 2007. Aston explains the delay has to do with the limited space of the

SKB-Bank’s financial records for the year 2007 have successfully undergone the international audit procedures. The bank’s chief accountant Oleg Morozov reports KPMG, the company that audited SKB-Bank’s consolidated accounts for 2007 on the basis of international standards, is one of the world’s largest and best-reputed auditors. KPMG’s report states that the bank and its daughter enterprise’s overall asset volume amounted to 29.962 million RUR on December 31, 2007. Their funds reached 3.843 billion RUR, its net profit came to 435 million RUR. SKB-Bank group’s assets and net profit (calculated

Yekaterinburg municipal council coordinated a meeting with the local management companies on the abundance of shopping space in Yekaterinburg. Yekaterinburg Consumer Market Committee reports the city is expected to have 1,500 square meters of trade areas per every one thousand dwellers in 2010. These data were presented by Deputy Mayor Viktor Konteev, who said that the city felt a certain shortage of offices and logistics centers at the moment. The meeting participants said they also felt a need for more inexpensive shopping areas and complained the city’s infrastructure was apparently

‘The purchase and sale agreement that involves 75,000 of Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank’s ordinary registered uncertificated shares (the bank’s additional share issue aimed at improving on their authorized capital) is illegal, since it contradicts the existing legislation regarding the joint stock companies. This agreement violates the priority of the federal bills, so the court must consider the public prosecution authorities’ claims, given particularly the fact that due to the general drift to a stronger legal framework much more attention is now paid to the infringement of state interests,’

‘Russian private banking market has been developing quite rapidly lately, but this is mainly due to Moscow that has always been in control of the majority of Russian VIP customers,’ the Russian Academy of Public Service under the President of the Russian Federation’s leading expert Alexei Gusev announced in the course of the 3d All-Russian Private Banking/Russia 2008 conference in Yekaterinburg. Alexei Gusev believes regional private banking is not available to customers at the moment, as no large banks are willing to work in provinces. ‘Quite ironically, the country’s major banks have been

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 18.33% (from 60.002 million RUR to 49.002 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

The agenda of this year’s Cannes film festival included United Vodka tasting contest as usual. This is Europe’s largest and most prestigious contest founded by United Vodka & Spirits association in Belgium in 2000. The contest aims to unite vodka and strong drink manufacturers in their efforts to promote their best brands on the new markets. Over 600 vodka brands take part in the event every year. This year’s event was attended by companies from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France, Russia, Ukraine and many other countries. Some old-time vodka technologists as well as young experts and the

‘The talks about the need to increase the recovery amount for people with bank deposits come in good time and sound like a good idea. The European banks, for instance, pay their depositors about ?20,000 in case of an insured event. The sum proposed for Russian banks, that is, 600,000 RUR, approaches this standard quite closely. On average, people have been depositing much more money in the banks lately compared to a few years ago, so raising the recovery amount for their deposits seems logical,’ SKB-Bank’s Deposit Operations Director Denis Belogurov said to UrBC. The idea to raise the sum

Yekaterinburg is currently hosting the 3d All-Russian Private Banking/Russia 2008 conference. ‘We hope that the conference will give a chance to all the participants to get the answers to their questions and to find solutions to all the problems that hinder private banking development in this country at the moment,’ Chair of Ural Banking Union Valentina Muranova said at the opening ceremony. The conference began with reports made by the Russian Academy of Public Service under the President of the Russian Federation’s leading expert Alexei Gusev, Estonia-based Sampo Bank’s Senior Investment

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Perviy Respublikanskiy Bank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 78.47% (from 16.514 million RUR to 3.554 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

The construction of a business center and a mall in Koltsovskiy highway, Yekaterinburg, still hasn’t begun. In the meantime, these buildings are part of the preparation program for the next year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Yekaterinburg. Point & Co’s First Deputy GD Yuri Tsepernyat explained in the course of a meeting at Sverdlovsk Region’s government house that they were currently busy re-designing the buildings. ‘We had to do this because of the local farmers. We did manage to buy a few nearby land allocations and turn them into two four-hectare construction sites, but

‘Renova-StroyGroup’s Academic construction project can serve as a paragon of professionalism for all the other builders,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel said in the course of a meeting at Sverdlovsk Region’s government house on May 28, 2008. During the meeting, the Governor was shown some real-time video broadcasts from the construction site. According to the project manager Stanislav Pridvizhkin, everything is being put up in accordance with the schedule. Eduard Rossel suggested that the region’s Construction Minister Alexander Karlov should coordinate a professional development

The construction of Antey Trade Center’s third section (a forty-five-storey building in Krasnoarmeyskaya-Malyshev St. in Yekaterinburg) has been halted once again. Antey’s Director Andrei Gavrilovskiy reported in the course of a meeting at Sverdlovsk Region’s government house that the trade center’s management had been trying in vain to get the lease agreement approved of by the region’s authorities for forty-five days already. Prior to this, Ural Federal District’s division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) inspected the construction site

Demidov Business Center is being put up in one of Yekaterinburg’s streets in full accordance with the schedule; however, a number of problems have recently made the process more complicated, Director of KlaasStroy Mars Sharafulin announced in the course of a meeting at Sverdlovsk Region’s government house. The business center in question is one of the buildings that have to be completed by the beginning of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that is to take place in Yekaterinburg next year. Mars Sharafulin reports Yekaterinburg transport and traffic committee is not prepared to

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ deposits in Uralfinance Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 25.4% (from 340.664 million RUR to 254.134 million RUR) in January-April 2008.