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

Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Board of Directors Viktor Rashnikov took part in the governmental committee’s meeting devoted to the Russian metallurgical industry’s development. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin. The agenda of the meeting covered issues related to the metallurgical sector’s post-recession development, the current investment programs, and the ways to increase demand for metal products on the construction and machine-building markets. Viktor Rashnikov observed that stimulating demand within the metal goods-consuming industries

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court refused to meet the demands of AlfaStrakhovaniye and declare the decision of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service invalid, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The FAS’s Sverdlovsk Region division ruled on August 18, 2009 that Bank24.ru and three insurers, Uveren.ru, Guta-Strakhovaniye, and AlfaStrakhovaniye, violated Article 11 (part 1, paragraph 5) of the Competition Protection Act. The companies were found guilty of an administrative offense as stated in Article 14.31 of the Administrative Offense Code. The division

‘The handling of the case involving L’Etoile (suspected of sending out text messages with advertisements without the phone number users’ written assent) was postponed because we were not provided with all the necessary documents relevant to the case,’ the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Marina Yusupova informed UrBC. Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service is looking into the case of OOO Alcor-C (L’Etoile cosmetics chain store). The company is suspected of violating Article 18 (part 1) of the Federal Advertising Act.

Following Bank Severnaya Kazna’s financial recovery procedure, only 28.57% of the bank’s business customers got transferred to Alfa-Bank, the new owner. ‘Bank Severnaya Kazna had about 21,000 active business customers, of whom approximately 6,000 joined Alfa-Bank,’ Alfa-Bank’s Regional Business Customer Development Director Mikhail Povaliy said in the course of an online conference broadcast via Alfa-Bank’s official website. When asked about the number of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s e-customers at the start of the financial recovery procedure, however, Alfa-Bank’s top executive seemed at a loss.

OAO Alfa-Bank had to close down five offices of Bank Severnaya Kazna in the course of the financial recovery procedure the latter needed, Bank Severnaya Kazna’s Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board Roman Vitkovskiy said in the course of an online conference held by the two banks. The conference was broadcast via Alfa-Bank’s official website. ‘Bank Severnaya Kazna used to have thirty-eight offices throughout Russia. Five of them stopped operating, and so did one of Alfa-Bank’s own offices. The remaining outlets are now used by both banks to make sure customers can get serviced in the

Over 24,000 business customers of Bank Severnaya Kazna refused to get transferred to Alfa-Bank. Alfa-Bank’s managers report that Bank Severnaya Kazna, which Alfa-Bank bought about fourteen months ago, used to have 30,000 business customers, of whom only 5,626 agreed to carry on with the new owner. ‘About 30,000 legal entities used the services of Bank Severnaya Kazna. Some 22,000 of them were active, that is, they performed at least one transaction a month. 5,626 business customers moved to Alfa-Bank by December 31, 2009, with over 1.556 billion RUR in their accounts. Ninety-four business

Alfa-Bank’s top executives still cannot decide what to do with their new asset, Bank Severnaya Kazna, Alfa-Bank’s COO Valeriy Novikov announced in the course of an online conference held by the two banks. The conference was broadcast via Alfa-Bank’s official website. ‘We have to options to choose between: liquidation or a merger. The final decision will be taken by April 1, 2010, this is the deadline stated in the bank’s financial recovery schedule,’ Novikov explained when asked by a reporter. Yekaterinburg-based Bank Severnaya Kazna found itself on the brink of bankruptcy late in 2008 and

OAO Alfa-Bank was unable to retain all of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s customers, about 40% of whom refused to switch to the Moscow-based bank, Alfa-Bank’s Chief Operating Officer Valeriy Novikov announced in the course of an online conference held by the two banks. ‘Nevertheless, the remaining 60% of customers from various service segments actually became Alfa-Bank’s new clients,’ he added. Alfa-Bank’s management reports transferring business customers from Bank Severnaya Kazna to Alfa-Bank is more difficult than transferring private customers. ‘The business customer migration process is much more

The losses incurred by Bank Severnaya Kazna were actually planned by the management of Alfa-Bank, the new owner of the business, Alfa-Bank’s Chief Operating Officer Valeriy Novikov announced in the course of an online conference held by the two banks. ‘Bank Severnaya Kazna’s financial performance indicators look just like we expected them to,’ he said. In fact, Bank Severnaya Kazna’s losses increased by 2,944,317,000 RUR, or 187.13% last year compared with the year 2008. The bank’s net loss amounted to 1,563,449,000 RUR at the end of 2008 and to 4,517,766,000 RUR at the end of 2009. Bank

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service keeps looking into a case involving OOO Alcor-C (L’Etoile cosmetics chain store). The company is suspected of violating Article 18 (part 1) of the Federal Advertising Act. Namely, the company is believed to be sending out text messages with advertisements without the phone number users’ written assent. The ad hoc committee first discussed the case in January 2010, but the proper handling had to be postponed because the defendant failed to produce the necessary papers. L’Etoile currently operates thirteen retail outlets in

ProjectFinance magazine declared the agreement on financing the construction of MMK Atakaş the Deal of the Year. The magazine says that, although many metallurgical projects had to be cancelled or put off last year, the sponsors of this one – the Russian Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and the Turkish Atakaş concentrated all their efforts on implementing the project. What is more, the financing of MMK Atakaş was organized under quite advantageous terms, despite the global liquidity crisis at the time. This agreement has a lot of symbolic importance for the metallurgical industry

The sales of new automobiles in Yekaterinburg dropped by about 60% last year, Head of Yekaterinburg Commodities Market Committee Viktor Konteev’s press secretary Ilona Starodubtseva reports. At the same time, the sales of second-hand cars delivered to Russia from Japanese and European auctions plummeted by 90% in 2009 compared to 2008. In addition, the number of show rooms in Yekaterinburg decreased from 53 to 50; out of the three centers that closed down two used to sell Russian cars and one dealt in foreign ones.