October 17 A full-cycle insulin production facility will be set up in Sverdlovsk Region in the next eighteen months; this insulin’s quality will equal that of its foreign counterparts, but it will be nearly 33% less expensive. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev is going to talk about an innovational model for the development of the medical and the pharmaceutical industries and about ensuring drug safety in Russia at the Russian Government meeting on October 18, the Governor’s Information Policy Department reports. The Ural industry’s achievements in the field of developing

October 17 The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development announced the close of its special offer dubbed Back from a Holiday and back on Vacation that was run by Visa. At the moment, the winners are being contracted, the bank reports. One of the winners is the UBRD’s customer, a Yekaterinburg resident named Alexander Antipin. Under the terms of this special offer, Antipin made the greatest number of Visa card transactions abroad between July 1 and August 31 and won a 75,000-RUR gift certificate that can be used to pay for a trip to any destination on the map. The winner says this prize

October 17 OOO Koltso Urala raised its term loan portfolio to 16bn RUR. According to Expert-Region, this makes the bank Ural Federal District’s 5th largest bank in this respect. The loan portfolio grows by 500m RUR a month on average, the bank’s press service refers to its retail sector management experts as saying. One of the main reasons why the loan portfolio keeps growing steadily is the general consumer mood, which is focused on saving at the moment, as well as the advantageous offers for private individuals, the company reports. For one, Bank Koltso Urala is now offering a convenient

October 17 OAO Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) started its shipments of pipe products for the construction of underwater pipelines at Vladimir Filanovsky oil and gas deposit in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. The deposit is now being developed by Lukoil. The Malaysian Bumi Armada Berhard and the Italian SAIPEM S.p.A. won the tenders for the construction of the pipelines. The oil and the natural gas underwater pipelines that will connect Filanovsky deposit and Korchagin deposit (also operated by Lukoil) will be built by Bumi Armada Caspian, a subdivision of the Malaysian Bumi Armada

October 17 Sverdlovsk Poultry Plant and Pervouralsk Poultry Plant will be offered for sale in 2013, Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Public Property Management’s press service told UrBC. The two poultry plants will be sold by auction under the program on Sverdlovsk Region-based public property management, head of the ministry’s Information & Analytics Department Galina Utkina says. In 2014, two more assets within the regional poultry industry – Refta Poultry Plant and Sredneuralsk Poultry Plant – will also probably be sold.

October, 16 The loan portfolios comprising loans offered to SMEs rose by 10% in the first half of 2012 and reached 4.3 trillion RUR. A year earlier, these portfolios only rose by 6.4%. These data are available from the report on SMEs lending in Russia that was drawn up by Expert RA Agency, SKB-Bank’s press service reports. The experts behind this report point out that these were the top 30 SMEs-lending banks in the country that contributed most to this positive dynamics. SKB-Bank had one of the fastest SME loan portfolio growth rates: the bank’s portfolio soared by 41.14% in the first half of

October, 16 OAO Sinara Pipe Plant (STZ), a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), commissioned its special training room with a software set called the Cold-Rolling Mill Operator Simulator, TMK’s press service reports. This room is a part of the company’s investment project on personnel training and professional development. The simulator is meant for training future cold-rolling mill operators using innovational training methods and ensuring greater professional training safety at the same time. The set comprises the special software, computer-equipped seats for the trainer and the

October, 16 The Chinese yuan vs. the U.S. dollar rate of exchange exceeded the 19-year maximum last week. This was caused by the Chinese authorities’ decision to allow for a small increase in the rate, which came as a surprise for many investors, Bank Koltso Urala reports. According to The Financial Times, the yuan has gone up by 2% against the dollar in the last three months and now the rate comes to 6.2676 yuan per dollar. On October 12, the growth came to 0.15%. Under the new rules, the yuan rate growth rate is kept within 1% a day. The yuan used to be traded quite low against the dollar

October, 16 Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev approved of the project on the construction of sports facilities that will be known as Uralets Entertainment Center. The Governor signed the rough plan of the project, the Governor’s Information Policies Department reports. ‘You can start the more detailed design now,’ Kuivashev said. Evgeny Kuivashev signed the plan at the close of the hockey match played by Avtomobilist against Saint Petersburg’s SKA on October 13. The facility will comprise a few ice areas for both practicing and holding matches, a swimming pool, and a hotel. The

October, 16 Thanks to purchasing a new Ford, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s medical unit can now offer first aid to the company employees, the corporation’s press service reports. The automobile is fitted with medical equipment that makes it possible to offer timely and better quality medical assistance and perhaps save a person’s life. The car has an intercom, some external lighting for offering first aid outside at night-time, heating, and air conditioning. The body is high enough for the medical assistant to work in a standing position. Stretchers with retention

October 15, 2012 Governor Evgeny Kuivashev sent a letter to Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin, asking to house the car assembly facility of I.A. Likhachev Plant (ZIL) on the premises of AMUR Car Factory, which is currently facing bankruptcy. ZIL has already confirmed the technological feasibility of setting up such a facility in Sverdlovsk Region. In his letter, the Governor draws the Mayor’s attention to the fact that Sverdlovsk Region Government, Russia’s Industry & Trade Ministry, and Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation signed an agreement in September that provided

October 15, 2012 The Lorenzo Era, dedicated to the founding father of the plant’s Ural Car-Building Design Office Dmitri N. Lorenzo, was recently published by Uralvagonzavod. Lorenzo was the man who shaped the development of the Russian railway car-building industry for many decades ahead, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service says. The book was published in the year of Lorenzo’s 120th birthday. The work dwells upon the evolution of the Russian freight car-building industry as well as on Lorenzo’s impressive creative and work achievements, his successful adjustment of the foreign designs

October 15, 2012 Yekaterinburg’s incomplete TV tower won’t be pulled down. The tower meets all the necessary safety requirements and does not jeopardize the nearby buildings, Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Public Property Management Alexei Pyankov announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘We have an independent body of experts’ report on the condition of this building. The tower meets the necessary safety requirements and is not a threat to the buildings surrounding it. This is why there is no need for dismantling it; what we do need to do is finish the tower and use it for some

October 15, 2012 Seversky Pipe Plant (STZ), a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), has successfully completed the overhaul of its electric steel-smelting shop, the company’s press service reports. The overhaul involved a replacement of metal structures and worn-out parts of the technological equipment as well as an examination of the automation and measuring systems and checking the performance of the electric and power systems; also, all the problems that had been detected were seen to. The overhaul also resulted in the upgrades of some of the shop’s units. For one, the chimney of the

October 15, 2012 OOO Mayak Corporation is offering an office building in downtown Yekaterinburg (located at the intersection of Krasnoarmeyskaya St and Kuibysheva St at 78 Krasnoarmeyskaya St) for sale. This news is available from the Ural Chamber of Ready-Made Business website. The nine-storey building, whose total area comes to 4,143.3 sq m, is being sold for 269,295 RUR. The building has both a ground and an underground parking lots. This estate used to be rented; according to the sales advertisement, the building is now filled with tenants.

October 12, 2012. The workers of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation were thanked by Sverdlovsk Region’s Minister for Industry & Science Vladislav Pinayev for ‘their great contribution to the development of Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial potential and economy, for strengthening its partnership ties, and for their noticeable activity in the Ural Chamber of Commerce & Industry,’ Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. A recent meeting dedicated to the 53d anniversary of the Ural Chamber of Commerce & Industry included award-giving ceremonies for a

October 12, 2012. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant – Uraltrac presented its new diesel engine at the AgroShow 2012 in Moscow, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. The plant presented its new product at the country’s largest agricultural vehicles and machinery exhibition in cooperation with OAO Noginsky Fuel Machinery Plant. The latter fitted the Chelyabinsk plant’s engine with an electronically controlled fuel pump which replaced the older mechanically controlled one. The Noginsk company is expected to supply up-to-date fuel machinery for tractor engines to

October 12, 2012. October 11, 2012 was determined as the date Koltso Urala’s corporate bonds were traded at MICEX for the first time. A few days ago, the bank’s securities were placed on quotation list B, the bank’s press service reports. Bank Koltso Urals’ first bond issue (Series 01, total face value 1bn RUR) was launched successfully on April 27, 2012. The bonds are to be in circulation for 3 years (1,098 days), and an offer to buy at face value is available in one year’s time. Promsvyazbank acted the issue’s underwriter. ‘The bank’s bonds getting listed at Russia’s leading stock exchange

October 12, 2012. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) had dampers installed onto all the pipes at its exhaust fumes station: this was part of the company’s program on reducing noise impact on the environment. The new equipment was installed at the three lines of dump valves (two nitrogen lines and one oxygen one), the company’s press service reports. ‘The dampers that were installed on the nitrogen lines are based on ‘a pipe inside the pipe’ principle: a new pipe is installed around the main perforated pipe, and some damping material is placed in between. The main thing that was accomplished at

October 12, 2012. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev keeps working on his projects in Moscow: he had two important meetings with the representatives of the U.S. business community who are taking part in the 12th annual investment conference run by the American Trade Chamber in Russia and with the President of Boeing – Russia & The CIS Sergey Kravchenko. At the conference, Kuivashev presented his report on the opportunities Sverdlovsk Region offers to American business. His main point was that the Mid-Ural companies are willing to build up on their cooperation with both