Moscow, 22 May 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce the investment of around USD 50 million into the expansion of cast-house production at Irkutsk Aluminium Smelter. The expansion is required due to the previous introduction of two new potrooms, which increased production capacity of the smelter by 170,000 tonnes of aluminium per annum. The new cast-house workshop will be put into full operation at the end of 2008. The cast-house workshop will have two new cast-house complexes. Each will contain a Remetal (Spain) cast-house conveyor and

It appears that the apartments in Aston Plaza, located in Radischev and Gurzufskaya St. in Yekaterinburg, do not enjoy great demand. Aston’s Chairman Vyacheslav Trapeznikov admitted in the course of a TV interview that only one-third of apartments had been sold so far, even though the commissioning has been scheduled for the third quarter of 2008. A number of experts report there may be several reasons for this. Firstly, the land allotment where Aston Plaza is located actually borders with Ivanovskoye cemetery, and this is believed to decrease an apartment’s popularity. ‘If an apartment is

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ demand deposits in UralFinPromBank went down by 36.94% (from 5.597 million RUR to 3.529 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

A number of local NGOs and environmental experts presented the results of their public environmental audit of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s steel-smelting complex in the town hall on May 21, 2008. The event was attended by the board of experts, Mayor of Pervouralsk Maxim Fedorov, ChTPZ Group’s Deputy GD and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s CEO Melik Mori, ChTPZ Group’s chief engineer Dmitriy Markov, some environmental experts, NGO members, and reporters. The audit was originally initiated by the local NGOs as part of their cooperation agreement with Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant that was signed on

SKB-Bank keeps on with its VIP expansion: new Elite-Banks have recently been introduced in Chelyabinsk and Perm, and now this top quality customer service is available to dwellers of Tyumen, Surgut, Rostov-on-Don, and Volgograd, the bank’s press officer reports. The new VIP service centers will be located in the bank’s Tyumenskiy office at 61 Respubliki St. in Tyumen, in Surgutskiy office at 23 Lenin St. in Surgut, in the bank’s Taganrog branch’s Rostovskiy office at 164a Bolshaya Sadovaya St. in Rostov-on-Don, and in the bank’s Volzhskiy branch’s Volgogradskiy office at 16 Kommunisticheskaya

Aston Group appears to have failed to design its Yekaterinburg-based Aston Plaza in such a way that provides enough sunshine to the neighboring apartment buildings. Aston’s Chairman Vyacheslav Trapeznikov announced in the course of a TV interview that, according to the technical requirements, any one room in any building must get at least two hours of sunshine a day. However, he claimed that the buildings next to Aston Plaza only got one and a half hours of sunshine even prior to the beginning of the construction process. The Chairman did admit, though, that their building has deprived its

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days dropped by 66.31% (from 128.385 million RUR to 43.246 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development changed the terms of its Great Profit deposit, so now one can deposit one’s money for a shorter period of time, for instance, for sixty-one, seventy-one, eighty-one, or ninety-one days. In addition, the interest rates offered on this deposit type and on the fixed-term deposit (the term varying from 61 to 270 days) were raised. The bank has also modified the terms of its Liquid deposit; one can now deposit one’s money for 31 to 120 days; the topping-up and the partial withdrawal options are provided.

Federal Antimonopoly Service’s Sverdlovsk Region division took legal action against Sberinvestbank, claiming the latter has violated the federal advertising legislation, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The Service believes the bank’s car loan ads do not provide any information on the additional expenses the customer would have to bear.

A press briefing devoted to Delta Credit’s introducing its representation in Yekaterinburg took place on May 20, 2008. Delta Credit is Russia’s first commercial bank that specializes in mortgage lending. The bank has been offering its mortgages to Russian customers since 1998; the company became an independent banking entity after acquiring JPMorgan’s Moscow branch in 2001. Delta Credit offers mortgage loans on both existing and new homes market in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara, Tolyatti, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg and their vicinities through its own

Si SposaItalia Collezioni, the international fashion show featuring the best wedding dresses and evening wear of the year 2009 is to be held in Milan on June 20-23, 2008. This season’s trendiest outfits are to be presented at the show, thus giving the prospective customers a chance to get acquainted with the entire range of new fashionable dresses. Over 130 exhibitors are to take part in the event. The agenda of the show includes sections on wedding dresses and accessories, evening gowns, jewelry, beauty salons’ products and services, wedding cakes, pastry, and much else besides.