Moscow, 22 September 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Libyan State Economic and Social Development Fund (ESDF) to create a joint venture to develop an energy and metals complex in Libya.љ The agreement sets out a plan to develop an aluminium smelter with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year and a 1500 MW natural gas power station.љ The parties have agreed to create a joint venture with UC RUSAL holding a 60% shareholding and the Libyan partner a 40% interest. The natural

Rus-Bank-Ural’s Asbest-based subsidiary started using its new name within the framework of the bank’s re-branding campaign. Instead of the old name of Ural Treasures Bank, the name of Rus-Bank-Ural Asbestovskiy is to be used in the customer agreements, advertisements, and internal and external correspondence now. The bank’s Perm and Kurgan subsidiaries are going to follow suit in the near future. The news regarding the bank’s new name was initially announced via the Central Bank’s website on August 5, 2008; the information could be found under the Bank Updates rubric. The whole thing started

‘Given the stock markets’ current instability and hype, any non-pro market player would be better off avoiding the stock market investments and heading for the safest type of investments, that is, bank deposits. As a matter of fact, the government officials are making it very clear that they are not going to let the country’s financial system collapse,’ says SKB-Bank’s Trading Operations Director Evgeniy Batuyev. ‘To make sure there are no delays in B2B payments because of troubled accounts and to prevent the Russian banking system’s complete downfall, the Russian Government and the Central

‘UMMC might not be able to complete the construction of Demidov Business Center by the beginning of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Yekaterinburg,’ Oleg Zemtsov, the spokesperson for the building’s former owner, said to UrBC. Zemtsov reports the construction of the first building has been halted, but the developer is working on the case of the second part of the complex at the same time. Nevertheless, the business center in Boris Yeltsin St. will probably only be finished in the summer of 2009, which means Demidov won’t be ready for the summit that starts on June 15, 2009.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel is going to take part in the 5th Forum for heads of Russian and Kazakh regions located near international borders in Aktyubinsk, Kazakhstan on September 21-22, 2008. The forum will be attended by country leaders Dmitriy Medvedev and Nursultan Nazarbaev. The agenda of the forum provides for the Governor’s report during the plenary session. The main points on this agenda are related to high technologies and these regions’ cooperation, so the participants will be able to participate in a business forum on these regions’ investment opportunities and

‘Our geographical expansion was the main reason for launching a re-branding campaign. The name of Mechel Bank is directly related to Chelyabinsk, whereas the business has already moved outside the South Urals and Chelyabinsk Region. This is why we will now be called Bank Monetniy Dom,’ Mechel Bank’s Chair Elena Nesterova said to an UrBC reporter. ‘The bank now runs fifty-two outlets in Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Orenburg, and Kurgan Regions as well as in Bashkortostan and Moscow – and this is only the beginning. We intend to introduce many more offices in the Greater Urals and to become

Bank VTB Severo-Zapad’s Supervisory Board’s recent meeting resulted in the decision to close down Uralskiy subsidiary. The office was located in Marshall Zhukov St. in Yekaterinburg.

‘While the stock markets are still troubled, the real estate sector starts to lure investors again. We’ve lost some investors eighteen months ago, but now they are gradually coming back,’ Olips’s Deputy GD Evgeniy Melnikov says. The developing company’s executive reports now is the propitious moment to invest in real estate. Both housing and commercial estate prices will keep going up, as far as good quality buildings are concerned. Besides, the demand hasn’t dropped dramatically, so there is still time to choose the best investment target. Olips says new homes prices have been slowly going

MOTIV, the mobile operator, launched a new universal subscription set known as Tariff Menu. The SIM card provides for the activation of one of five MOBI tariffs: MOBI NEXT, MOBI NEXT 2, MOBI NEXT FREE, MOBI NEXT FRESH, and Ot Vsey Dushi. While some of the subscription sets might not be available in the dealer centers, the Tariff Menu allows the customer to choose any of the five tariff schemes that best suits their needs. The all-purpose subscription set includes a SIM card with the initial subscription to NEXT FREE. The customer can switch to another tariff within thirty days of activating

Maxi Group’s extraordinary general meeting in Moscow resulted in the stockholders’ refusal to terminate the current BOD members’ authority. There were 1,000,001 votes (50.000050%) against this decision.

The Russian Federation Finance Ministry allowed twenty-eight banks to take part in an auction where they will compete for the right to keep the budgetary funds in their deposits. All of these banks have at least BB long-term credit rating (according to Standard & Poor's or Fitch) or Ba3 rating (according to Moody’s). What is more, these banks are all on the country’s Top 50 Banks list. They are: Absolut Bank, Bank Ak Bars, Alfa Bank, Bank VTB, Bank VTB 24, Bank VTB Severo-Zapad, Gazprombank, Eurofinance Mosnarbank, Bank Zenit, Credit Europe Bank, MDM Bank, Bank of Moscow, Nomos Bank,

Chelyabinsk Region was Russia’s first province to sign a cooperation agreement with South Ossetia. The region’s official delegates, headed by Deputy Governor Valentin Buravlev, visited South Ossetia last week. First Deputy Head of Law-Enforcement and Military Authorities Cooperation Unit Nikolai Yarovoy, Head of the region’s student squads HQ Sergey Goryshkin, and Deputy GD of Chelyaboblinveststroy Vladimir Nickel were among the delegates. The group signed an official cooperation agreement involving the Government of Chelyabinsk Region and the Government of South Ossetia. The agreement