The Economic News Agency came up with yet another rating of the Russian entrepreneurs’ political activity at the request of Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The quarterly rating of 50 Most Influential Entrepreneurs and Investors for the last quarter of 2011 gives BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov the 16th position (in the Strong Influence group), which is one point better than the position given to the businessman in the previous rating. This is actually one of the highest scores among the representatives of the Russian metallurgical industry. Rashnikov was also

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) carried a performance report for the last quarter of 2011 and for the entire year. In 2011, the company’s production output rose by 6.8% and reached 12.2m tons of goods; the enterprise’s cast iron output increased by 2.8% and came to 9.5m tons. 2.5% more of goods with high value-added was manufactured in 2011 compared with 2010: the figure came to 4.07m tons. All in all, the company also produced significantly more finished metal goods: the manufacturing volumes rose by 7.2% against the year 2010 and amounted to 11.16m tons by the end of 2011.

The Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports that after Chelyabinsk Region Arbitration Court ruled on January 18, 2012 that Chelyabinsk-based UralIncomBank (UIC-Bank) should be considered insolvent and that a trustee in bankruptcy should be appointed for the business, the Bank of Russia decided to make the bank’s provisional management resign on January 31, 2012.

85,080 new passenger cars were sold in Yekaterinburg in 2011, which exceeded the figures for 2010 by 60%. Yekaterinburg thus became the city with Russia’s fifth largest automobile market, preceded by Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Samara, and Kazan, the analytic agency Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports. Lada is still the best-selling brand on the local market, even though its sales keep going down: these dropped by 2% in December. By the end of the year, Lada’s selling dynamics turned out to be the worst among Yekaterinburg’s top fifteen best-selling cars, and the Russian brand’s share of the

A Media Markt outlet will soon open in Park House Shopping Center in Yekaterinburg, the local branch of Manhattan Real Estate Management (the company in charge of tenant issues in the said shopping center) informed UrBC. The company representative Natalia Kirillova explained to UrBC that the German electronic goods and household appliances chain store would be located on the third floor of the mall. The remodeling jobs will begin on February 1, 2012. In the meantime, the current tenants located on the third floor, including Bruno Bellini, La Djotto, Westmister, Carven, Amori, Truvor, Clarks,

The Russian Federation President’s Decree on Acting Governor of Sverdlovsk Region will become void on February 6, 2012 a Alexander Misharin will go back to office in the capacity of the region’s Governor. Dmitri Medvedev’s decree to this effect is available via the official web portal for legal information. ‘As Alexander Misharin assumed office as Governor of Sverdlovsk Region, I declare the President’s Decree on Acting Governor of Sverdlovsk Region dated December 10, 2011 void. The present decree comes into effect on February 6, 2012,’ the document states. This decree was signed by the

The fact that Czech Connect Airlines recently came to a temporary halt due to financial difficulties is not going to affect the Urals’ tourist market in any noticeable way. The company’s Yekaterinburg-Karslbad flights were actually complementary among all the other offers on hand, says Director of Zima-Leto Group Olga Gulyar. ‘In my opinion, one of the causes of Czech Connect Airlines’ financial troubles lies in the wrong choice of a destination. It would have been much better for the airline to focus on flights to Prague that actually enjoy enormous demand. Travelers come to Prague both as

Sverdlovsk Region Government is to conduct a repeat auction for the purchase of ten Toyota Camrys on March 5, 2012. This information is available via the government purchases website Now the news that the state-run Sverdlovsk Region Government Car Park was planning to conduct electronic auctions for the purchase of ten Toyota Camrys was announced on January 10; the auction was supposed to have taken place the other day. The opening (and the maximum) price of each purchase contract is 7.5m RUR. The requirements for the characteristics of the cars include the following: the maximum speed must

Technosila, the third largest company on the Russian electronic goods and household appliances market (and the fourth largest in terms of sales volume), might get new owners. MDM Bank and entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich are looking for a customer to buy the business that has been estimated at $200m, Vedomosti reports. According to some reports, the selling offer has already been made to the country’s top three market players: Eldorado, M.Video, and Media Markt; however, experts believe selling the entire chain in one piece won’t be easy. The market leaders are more likely to be interested only

On January 30, 2012, TGK-9 Board of Directors is going to consider selling Bogoslovskaya power station to United Company RUSAL. The general agreement to this extent was reached at the end of 2011. According to TGK-9’s reports, the company’s BOD will consider selling the station’s assets and its stake in Bogoslovskaya power station.

Interfax Center for Economic Analysis carried one of the first official banks’ ratings for the year 2011. SKB-Bank was featured among Russia’s Top 40 lending institutions: the bank was given the 40th position in the rating and declared one of Sverdlovsk Region’s five leading banks. SKB-Bank’s rating position improved considerably last year: at the start of 2011, the bank was given the 46th position as its assets volume amounted to 88.8bn RUR. According to the data provided by the agency’s analysts, the bank’s assets volume rose by 31.2% in the course of the year and exceeded 110.4bn RUR. What

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s performance indicators improved considerably last year. For one, the bank’s own funds rose by 42% and came to 9.67bn RUR. Its assets increased by 36% and amounted to 100.72bn RUR. In fact, this increase in the bank’s efficiency in 2011 was in many respects more pronounced than in the Russian banking system on average, the UBRD President Anton Solovyev said at a press conference recently. ‘We improved the quality of services rendered to our customers. Our philosophy boils down to this: do not wait for the customers to come to you, come to your

EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK) Board of Directors decided to close down the subsidiary of EVRAZ NTMK Museum & Exhibition Center on April 30, 2012. The decision got five BOD members’ votes, with no one voting against the proposal or abstaining from voting. NTMK Museum was founded in 1975. In 1996, a new concept was developed and the museum was turned into NTMK Museum & Exhibition Center (1,500 sq m) that had no counterparts among all of Russia’s metallurgical industry on-site museums. The Center comprises a museum of the plant’s history, an advertising/exhibition

The borders of the specially protected Russia’s Foresters National Park based in Sverdlovsk Region have been changed. Sverdlovsk Region Government’s decree to this effect was published by Oblastnaya Gazeta today. Under this decree, the borders of the reserve were changed as 0.267 hectares of land located in Quarters 79 and 81 of the park’s Lesoparkovy Forestry were allocated for the construction of Lukoil-PermNefteProdukt’s gas filling station (Class 5 under sanitary classification, fifty-meter sanitary buffer zone). The decree states that the decision was preliminarily approved of by a board

Ural Airlines made the process of booking plane tickets via the air carrier’s official website much easier, the airline’s press service reports. Shopping for tickets at the company’s online booking office is now more convenient. Passengers can use their bank card to pay for a ticket virtually up to the start of a check-in. To make sure these payments are secure, only 3dSecure-supporting bank cards are accepted for payment if the transaction is carried out eighteen hours before departure time or later. Tickets become unavailable for purchase at the company’s website www.uralairlines.com four

Starting March 7, Ural Airlines will be operating a new scheduled flight from Nizhniy Novgorod to Yerevan and back. Flights will be operated every Wednesday; tickets start from ?155 (plus fees and charges). All of Ural Airlines’ flights are operated using Airbus A320 planes with a full-scale business class. Tickets are available at the booking offices or via the air carrier’s website www.uralairlines.com.

The clash over NLMK Group’s assets still has not been settled in Sverdlovsk Region. M.N. Maksimova’s claims against Nizhneserginsky Metal Goods Plant were placed with the arbitration court. The plaintiff insists that some of the decisions made by the plant’s stockholders be declared invalid. The plant is actually a member of Vladimir Lisin’s NLMK Group. Meanwhile, the defendant does admit that there exists a disagreement between the plant and its former owner Nikolai Maksimov and his relatives. ‘Court disputes between NLMK and its daughter enterprises and N.V. Maksimov, the former executive

The power generating unit BN 600 at Beloyarskaya nuclear power station is now working at reduced capacity so that the condensing unit of one the turbine power generators could be repaired, the station’s press service reports. Power was reduced at 3:00 PM Moscow time in accordance with the application submitted to the power network dispatcher. ‘The equipment is working in the usual mode, with no deviations. Once the repairs of the condensing unit have been completed, the turbine generator will be reset to work at full capacity, so the power unit’s electric power capacity will go back to its

Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service in Ural Federal District imposed a fine on Uralmashzavod (Taxpayer Identification Number 6672346635) for violating the existing regulations for share-issuing procedures (Article 15.17 of Russia’s Administrative Offense Code).

Russia’s Ministry for Industry is to present the country’s application for hosting EXPO 2020 in Davos, Switzerland, in the course of the current economic forum. The candidate Russian city for hosting the exhibition is Yekaterinburg. In addition to Moscow-based officials, the representatives of EXPO 2020 application committee, Sverdlovsk Region’s Minister for International & Foreign Economic Relations Alexander Kharlov, and Mayor of Yekaterinburg Evgeny Porunov arrived in Switzerland as well. It was reported today that after a recent tender, a 6.5m RUR contract was signed for the