Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), one of Russia’s leading steel manufacturers, retired $300m worth of Eurobonds on October 21, 2008 through MMK Finance S.A. The enterprise went through with the bonds issue in October 2003. The coupon interest rate was determined at 8% a year, so the coupon payments reached $120m by the time the bonds’ circulation period was over. The money obtained through the bond issue was partially used to finance MMK’s investment program. According to MMK Group’s consolidated statement (drawn up in compliance with the US GAAP) for the first half of 2008, MMK’s

‘Banks are already producing redundancy reports. Bank VTB Severo Zapad, for instance, is about to make 189 employees redundant. These are mainly lending experts that were formerly employed in the bank’s subsidiaries,’ says Yekaterinburg Employment Center’s Deputy Director Anatoly Kudryashov. In the meantime, the region’s State Labor Inspection reported as many as twenty-six Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises had asked a number of people to leave by October 15, 2008.

One of Yekaterinburg’s popular Internet forums where people discuss the banking community’s problems published an unofficial rescue plan for Bank24.ru signed by the bank’s Chairman Sergey Lapshin. The message states Bank 24.ru backed out of the M&A proposals it had been made because the purchasing sums were seen as inadequate by the shareholders. Then, the message author does admit that the bank is having liquidity problems, especially in terms of non-cash resources, and is hoping for the federal authorities’ help. At the same time, the resource shortage and troubles with payment

Bank Severnaya Kazna BOD Chairman Vladimir Frolov admits that a portion of the bank’s shares might be sold to a new large investor. He reports that it is quite possible and that the management has already considered this as an option. ‘We don’t insist on keeping the controlling shareholdings to ourselves any longer. This wouldn’t be a right thing to do. We’ve overcome our own unwillingness and have spoken about the problem with many financial organizations,’ Vladimir Frolov announced in the course of a press confrerence in Yekaterinburg on October 22, 2008. Frolov did admit he had already

‘On the whole, the civil aviation market is having a hard time now: AirUnion is going through bankruptcy proceedings, and a number of other companies I believe will have to quit the market. KrasAir is very close to becoming insolvent as well partly because only 34% of the foreign aircraft the company leases is actually serviceable. As for Ural Airlines, our foreign airplanes serviceability coefficient comet to 86%, which is one of the best results in the branch,’ General Director of Ural Airlines Sergey Skuratov said in the course of a press conference. ‘I feel the leaving carriers’ market