A new out-of-furnace steel processing unit was launched at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) oxygen converter shop on February 19, 2010. MMK PR Department reports the modern hi-tech unit is part of a bigger system meant for manufacturing new, competitive products that meet all the global standards (including the requirements for pipe steel with strength index up to Х120). The launch of the unit will make it possible to use the company’s CC machine No.6 for producing at least 2 million tons of slabs a year; the slabs will then be used in thick plate production at Mill 5000. MMK and SMS

YIT, the Finnish investment and construction concern, decided to raise the authorized capital of its daughter enterprise YIT Uralstroy in Yekaterinburg. The additional issue of the company’s ordinary shares worth 921.5 million RUR has already been registered. YIT Uralstroy’s GD Fedor Voropayev reports the increase was supposed to have occurred a year ago, but was postponed because of the recession. According to the company’s official data, YIT sold 2,610 apartments in Russia last year, which was 6% less than in 2008. The number of the apartments that have just been started dropped by 81% and

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin met the dwellers of Severouralsk, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. ‘Severouralsk is important for the development of the northern parts of Sverdlovsk Region. This is actually a town with only one employer, as 90% of industrial output comes from Severouralsk bauxite mine (SUBR) and related enterprises. The town really needs a diversification program and other businesses,’ Misharin said. The Governor particularly emphasized the importance of meeting the townspeople, who can provide him with first-hand information about the locals’

The primary stockholders of Eldorado (the consumer electronics chain store) Igor Yakovlev and the Czech PPF Group agreed to redistribute their shares in the business. According to Vedomosti, Yakovlev is to sell his 50%-minus-one-share holding to PPF Group for $100m and will get back his personal business assets Advantage Group (ADG) and RealEstateDevelopment (R.E.D.). Vedomosti reports the news was announced by several sources within PPF Group and Eldorado’s management. The Group offered Eldorado a $500m loan in the fall of 2008. The loan was secured by 51% of Cyprus-based Fasipero,

OAO VUZ-Bank (Life Financial Group) normally makes about 70% of its bad debtors go bust. The bank can let a debtor have the debts restructured only in 30% of cases, the bank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Andrei Zolotukhin said in the course of round table discussion on bankruptcy vs. restructuring in Yekaterinburg. ‘The banks are willing to restructure the debts, but it all depends on the debtors. The borrowing parties often claim to be ready for this, but reality proves different. This is a very common thing. So the bank needs to protect its interests and to make the business undergo

After it was requested to do so by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the Economic News Agency has been doing research on how efficient the lobbying efforts of Russian business community, state authorities, and deputies are. The latest data were gathered in January 2010 and indicated that Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin could be declared one of Russia’s most effective lobbying agents among region’s leaders. His rating was actually much higher in January 2010 than in December 2009. The rating also featured Yuri Luzhkov, Valentina Matvienko, Roman Abramovich, Ramzan Kadyrov, and a number of