The Australian Ausmelt Limited won the second prize in the Metal Production category in the course of the annual PACE Zenith contest for its Zvezda project implemented by Russian Copper Company in the town of Karabash. The awarding ceremony took place in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia, on June 18, 2008. The contest was coordinated by Process and Control Engineering, the Australian magazine, in order to motivate the world’s leading engineering enterprises and technological innovators as well as to help them become known to the public. ‘This is a significant achievement and a sign of great

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ deposits in Uralprivatbank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 27.73% (from 3.866 million RUR to 2.794 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

According to URSA Bank’s unaudited financial statement (drawn up in compliance with the Russian accounting standards), the bank’s assets reached $7.5bn in January-March 2008, which is 1.5 times better than a year earlier. The bank’s own funds doubled over the year and amounted to $1.29bn. At the same time, URSA Bank’s profit came to $66.3m in the first quarter of 2008, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 2.7 times. The bank’s net loan portfolio reached $5.8bn on April 1, 2008, which was 1.6 times better than on April 1, 2007. Bad debt (with payments delayed for over ninety days)

According to the data available as of June 1, 2008, the volume of private customers’ investments in SKB-Bank exceeded 11.5 billion RUR, which is 34% better than at the beginning of the year and is the top growth achievement among all the Ural banks. ‘This growth dynamics can be explained by a number of factors, for instance, our convenient and profitable deposit offers as well as the image we managed to create of being a stable and reliable financial body,’ says SKB-Bank’s Deposit Director Denis Belogurov.

Mars Sharafulin and UMMC’s clash over who gets to control Demidov Business Center of Yekaterinburg moved into a new phase after the former acquired Lobvinskiy biochemical plant. This alcohol-producing plant, formerly owned by Pavel Fedulev, a local entrepreneur, had gone bankrupt. In April 2008, some workers went on a hunger strike, demanding their wages and resumption of work. The hunger strike was only stopped after Sverdlovsk Region Government decided to sell the plant to an investor who would pay off the enterprise’s debts and could spend some money on the technical upgrades. Finding such

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for 31 to 90 days dropped by 49.50% (from 20.001 million RUR to 10.1 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ demand deposits in Bank Uralfinance went down by 30.34% (from 16.047 million RUR to 11.178 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

‘Any flaws that a car might have can only be handled through the dealer network. In case the problem originated at the plant, the dealer must contact the plant through the maintenance department and find a solution,’ Taganrog car factory’s Marketing Director Marina Zavolzhenskaya said to UrBC. In the meantime, one of Yekaterinburg-based Okami Vostok’s customers bought a Hyundai Accent with an air conditioner in March 2008; as soon as the hot summer days came, it became clear that the conditioner was not working. The car owner believes that despite the pre-sale preparation, the car sold by the

‘Okami Vostok should have checked whether the air conditioner was working during their pre-sale preparation,’ Autosun car center reports. One of Yekaterinburg-based Okami Vostok’s customers bought a Hyundai Accent with an air conditioner in March 2008; as soon as the hot summer days came, it became clear that the conditioner was not working. The car owner believes that despite the pre-sale preparation, the car sold by the dealer was initially defective. Okami’s experts think the faulty condition emerged in the process of manufacturing the car. According to the unhappy customer, Okami Vostok

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to nonresident legal entities for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 72.49% (from 1,684,827,000 RUR to 463,483,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development Finance (a daughter enterprise fully owned by the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development) declared the interest rates on the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th coupons of its second three-year bond issues. The coupon rates will thus come to 12.5% a year, or 31.16 RUR per each 1,000-ruble bond. The issuer will have to pay a total of 31.16 million RUR on each coupon period. After the 8th coupon payments are made on July 3, 2008, an offer will be provided for the bondholders. The bonds are to be fully retired on July 2, 2009. The bondholders will receive

‘We used to think of the Academic construction project as a future ambition, but it is now becoming a part of our present,’ says Yekaterinburg’s Deputy Mayor for Capital Construction and Land Use Vladimir Kritskiy. RENOVA-StroyGroup’s top executives and Vladimir Kritskiy recently met to discuss the city’s future district. Project manager Stanislav Pridvizhkin assured the officials that everything was being done in accordance with the schedule. ‘To make sure all the schedules can be adhered to, we need to handle the issues related to engineering infrastructure and road construction first of

According to URSA Bank’s unaudited financial statement (drawn up in compliance with the Russian accounting standards), the bank’s assets reached $7.5bn in January-March 2008, which is 1.5 times better than a year earlier; at the same time, URSA Bank’s net profit came to over $66m, the bank’s press officer reports.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation (consisting of Yekaterinburg-based Uralmashzavod and Orsk-based ORMETO-YUMZ) exhibited its oil rigs, pipes, and winches that the company is manufacturing at the moment on June 17-18, 2008. The event was attended by Eurasia, Rosneft-Bureniye, Ukrgazdobycha, Orenburgneft, Belarusneft, and a number of other O&G companies. Visitors to the presentation could see the design of the third generation drilling units; today’s customers want more durable and more multifunctional equipment, which is why this is what the new units are going to be like. They can be

SKB-Bank set up its new branches in Kaliningrad and Krasnodar in order to render banking services to small and medium-scale businesses, the bank’s press officer reports. ‘The office is located in the old town, right inside the so-called Fish Exchange (a business center). In fact, we found ourselves within a stone’s throw of a great cathedral and the grave of the renowned philosopher Immanuel Kant,’ says SKB-Bank’s Kaliningrad branch’s director Dmitriy Tyurikov. SKB-Bank has already introduced its offices in twenty Russian Regions and is planning to go on to Khabarovsk, Yakutsk, Kazan, and

According to one Yekaterinburg dweller, Okami Vostok sells faulty Hyundai cars. Okami’s customer bought a Hyundai Accent with an air conditioner in March 2008; as soon as the hot summer days came, it became clear that the conditioner was not working. The car owner believes that despite the pre-sale preparation, the car sold by the dealer was initially defective. Okami Vostok explained to the unhappy customer that the delivery and installation of the part needed to fix the problem would take between fourteen and forty-five days within applying for repairs. Okami car centers are the official

Expert-Ural came up with a new rating assessing the Ural banks’ activity in the first quarter of 2008. The results of the magazine’s survey indicated that the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development keeps growing rapidly in all financial respects. The bank’s net assets rose by 16% within the first quarter of the year, securing it the top rating position among Sverdlovsk Region’s banks. The bank’s loan portfolio went up by 15%, its own funds increased by 10%, its profits rose by 12%. ‘As a matter of fact, we usually prove to be Sverdlovsk Region’s number one bank in terms of private

Rimera (ChTPZ Group’s O&G maintenance division) bought 100% of Taimyrnefterazvedka, Taimyr Autonomous Region’s largest drilling enterprise. Taimyrnefterazvedka can currently boast a 70% share of Taimyr’s exploration drilling market; the enterprise sets up well sites in complicated mining and geological conditions where the rock pressure can be either anomalously high or low. Since 1964, Taimyrnefterazvedka has been able to launch oil and gas wells in fifty areas around Yenisei-Khatangskaya, Anabaro-Khatangskaya, Severo-Tungusskaya, and Pur-Tazovskaya oil-and-gas bearing provinces. All in

‘Poor legal protection of creditors (i.e. no legal instruments to help them get their loans back) is one of the indicators of an unstable consumer lending market. Illegal salaries that remain untaxed are another indicator: in case the bad debt suit gets to court, the money will be deducted from the borrower’s legal salary (which is much less than what the person actually makes),’ Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch’s Private Customer Lending Director Vyacheslav Reshetnikov announced in the course of a round table discussion devoted to ways of enhancing Russia’s consumer lending market’s

Starting June 19, 2008, MegaFon’s customers subscribed to United tariff scheme can use the new Guest option. The offer can save money to customers who have relatives or business partners in different parts of Russia or abroad. The price of a phone call anywhere within Russia will cost you 3.9 RUR; international calls will cost you 6 RUR (VAT included). Depending on the scheme you choose (Long-Distance or International), your outgoing calls to Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Byelorussia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, China, Vietnam,