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.

‘If a builder does not have the necessary construction permits, its buildings will be classed as unauthorized construction and will have to be pulled down,’ explains Roman Rechkin, Legal Issues Director of Intellect-C Legal Security Agency. In the meantime, Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities insist on freezing the illegal construction process that involves Aston’s apartment building in Radischev and Gurzufskaya St. in Yekaterinburg. For one, the authorities had to react to the local residents’ numerous complaints and conduct an investigation that revealed that this high-rise

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (part of ChTPZ Group) delivered over 27,000 tons of tubular goods to KazTransOil (Kazakhstan) in January-May 2008. The pipes were made of 17G1S-U steel, varied in diameter (530,720, and 1020 mm) and thickness (8 mm to 16 mm), and had some trilaminate polyethylene coating on them. These goods are meant for repairs and field operations of Kazakh pipelines. In fact, Kazakhstan’s O&G and power engineering companies have been ChTPZ Group’s key customers from the near abroad for many years now. Last year, the Group’s tube and pipe manufacturers provided their

UMMC Holding and Russian Copper Company decided to go for a new joint venture. The two enterprises are planning to put up a new zinc plant with the capacity of 300,000 tons of zinc a year. The plant will probably be located either in Kirovgrad, Sverdlovsk Region, or Troitsk, Chelyabinsk Region. The construction of the plant is expected to build up both companies’ shares of zinc manufacturers’ market considerably. At the moment, the project is at the design documentation stage. After all the permits and the experts’ assessments have been obtained (supposedly at the end of 2008), the

Ural Airlines has recently acquired its fourth Airbus 320. ‘The three aircraft we’ve leased have already proved to be very comfortable and reliable. These airplanes have the best airfield performance in their price segment, which means Ural Airlines can now enter many more airports. This also means that every new Airbus signals the introduction of new tourist destinations, including those in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East,’ the airline’s press officer reports. ‘We needed a plane that could be used for the maximum number of flights without requiring enormous maintenance expenses,

URSA Bank has recently made all of its first Eurobond issue payments as well as the coupon ones, with the total sum coming to $66.017m. The coupon payments were determined by the 9.75% annual interest rate. URSA Bank announced it was going through with the redemption of these bonds in March 2008 and bought $160,000 worth of bonds at their face value. This first Eurobond issue, with the original value of $100m, was carried out at Luxembourg Stock Exchange in May 2005 and was to be in circulation for three years. The sum was raised to $175m in December 2005. The issue was coordinated by

Vladivostok Avia is going to launch its scheduled Moscow-Yekaterinburg flight on June 1, 2008. According to the carrier’s press officer, the flights are to be operated daily (except for Wednesdays). The plane takes off in Moscow at 1.05 PM and arrives in Yekaterinburg at 5.20 PM (local time). Then the plane leaves Yekaterinburg at 7.35 PM and arrives in Moscow at 8.05 PM.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of nonresident private individuals’ demand deposits in VUZ Bank dropped by 62.62% (from 2.261 million RUR to 845,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

According to the Expert magazine, twenty new players joined the Russian factoring market in 2007, while the market volume grew by 174%. This was in fact a bit slower than a year earlier, which can be explained by the fact that the factors moved on to conquering some new market segments where the demand for their services wasn’t so acutely felt as of yet. Expert RA’s analysts believe the market is to experience some dramatic growth in 2008, though, SKB-Bank’s press officer reports. At the moment, factoring businesses have to face the fiercest competition on Moscow’s factoring market, which is

Bank Yekaterinburg’s own funds dropped by 15.1% over the first four months of 2008 and amounted to 471.265 million RUR on May 1, 2008. These data were provided by Bank Severnaya Kazna’s analysts in their report on the performance of Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory’s largest banks in January-April 2008.

Bank VEFK-Ural’s loan portfolio went down by 30.4% over the first four months of 2008 and amounted to 1,642,057,000 RUR on May 1, 2008. These data were provided by Bank Severnaya Kazna’s analysts in their report on the performance of Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory’s largest banks in January-April 2008.

The media have been talking about some significant increase in metal goods prices since April 2008; Russia’s leading metallurgical enterprises raised their prices despite their customers’ strong dissatisfaction; pipe manufacturer and O&G companies (the pipe manufacturers’ end users), as well as the car and the building industries say more expensive metal will badly affect the country’s economic growth and could threaten economy with another inflation wave. In the meantime, Russian rolled steel makers only follow global trends. ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, raised the

Starting May 19, 2008, Ural Airlines resumed its Yekaterinburg-Anapa-Yekaterinburg flights. The carrier’s press officer reports the flight is to be operated every Monday and Saturday until mid-June, after which two more weekly flights will be offered. A TU 154 plane takes off in Yekaterinburg at 10.40 AM and arrives in Anapa at 11.55 AM, then leaves Anapa at 1.25 PM and lands in Yekaterinburg at 6.30 PM (local time).

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to private individuals for 31 to 90 days went down by 98.33% (from 3 million RUR to 50,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

A number of local NGOs and environmental experts are going to present 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 audit was originally initiated by the public in order to evaluate the possible environmental and socioeconomic impact the prospective construction of the complex may have on the local people, and in order to come up with the list of solutions to possible problems. The experts’ report is expected to provide an objective assessment of the project and of the measures the plant has taken

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year went down by 17.82% (from 16.3 million RUR to 13.395 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co. (part of Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation) is to deliver a sintering machine (sintering area 408 square meters) for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in India at the end of 2008. The corporation’s press officer reports the Indian sintering plant is expected to produce 456 tons of agglomerate every hour; the launch has been scheduled for June 2009. This is the first time any enterprise based in Russia or the CIS is going to design and produce a sintering machine of such capacity. The machine is based on a number of totally new technological solutions

‘We are planning to invest a total of $1bn in business development this year. Some $650m will be directed to industrial projects, including the construction of a number of plants in Leningrad Region. Then, $350m will be spent on the acquisition of some builders with their own stock or land allotments in the Russian regions,’ LSR Group’s General Director Igor Levit said to RBC Daily. The Group has already announced that it was going to set up a special entity meant for managing LSR’s Urals-based assets with headquarters in Yekaterinburg as soon as the summer of 2008. LSR Group owns an 87%

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit NGOs’ deposits in Tyumenenergobank valid for 91 to 180 days dropped by 66.16% (from 60.002 million RUR to 20.3 million RUR) in January-April 2008.