Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service detected that NLMK Group’s entities, namely, Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) and VIZ Stal, set unreasonably high electric transformer steel prices for Russian customers between August 2009 and December 2010. In fact, steel prices for domestic customers were in some cases 100% higher than those for foreign shipments. The FAS committee did not find any economic or technological grounds for this price difference and came to the conclusion that such a policy violated Article 10 (part 1, paragraph 1) of the Competition Protection Act. ‘As the global

The shareholders of Baltika Breweries are going to consider a decrease in the company’s authorized capital. To do this, the BOD decided to announce an extraordinary general meeting; ballots can be submitted through March 16, 2012.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court rejected the claim of IKEA MOS (Trade & Real Estate): the company was trying to get ownership rights over a number of advertising billboards in Yekaterinburg. Yekaterinburg Municipal Council and Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastral Records and Cartography were involved in the case as defendants. IKEA MOS (Trade & Real Estate) demanded that the right of ownership be granted to the company regarding a 45-meter billboard with the area of 35.8 sq m and a 40-meter billboard with the area of 16.7 sq m. The

Chair of Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly Lyudmila Babushkina held a meeting with the Consul-General of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to Yekaterinburg Turdali Orozbayev. The official informed Ms Babushkina that his term and stay in the Mid-Urals were coming to an end. A new consul-general to Yekaterinburg will be appointed in the course of diplomatic cadre rotation. Lyudmila Babushkina thanked the consul for his fruitful work in the Urals and noted that the trade, economic, and cultural ties between Sverdlovsk Region and Kyrgyzstan grew much stronger during his work in Yekaterinburg. She

This January, 74,500 tons of ready goods were manufactured at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) sheet-rolling department 9 (aka Mill 5000). In February and March 2012, the mill is expected to reach its full working capacity, MMK’s PR Department reports. Mill 5000 has mastered both hot- and cold-rolling technologies as well as the ways of making sheets varying in thickness and width, depending on the maximum requirements on the part of large-diameter pipe consumers. The department also manufactures steel sheets with strength grade X70. Among Mill 5000’s key customers are Chelyabinsk

Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation was unable to coordinate an extraordinary general meeting at Motovilikhinskiye Zavody as the former never became the plant’s stockholder. Motovilikhinskiye Zavody published a report on the BOD meeting that took place on January 30, 2012. The BOD rejected the application placed by Uralvagonzavod’s daughter enterprise Ural Heavy Duty Vehicles UVZ regarding the organization of an EGM. The BOD’s decision was based on Article 55 of the Joint Stock Companies Act that states that the application for an EGM can be rejected if the stockholders

Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service received a complaint from Lider Chistoty regarding B.N. Yeltsin Ural Federal University, the coordinator of a tender for cleaning services (open auction 208А-2011) for the university and for the UFU Classical Education Center (open auction 211-А-2011). Ural Federal University is now involved in a lawsuit, with charges based on Article 17 of the Competition Protection Act: the university is suspected of favoritism towards one or several tender applicants, which was manifested in not providing the bidder with information

An emergency landing of UTair airplane flying from Tyumen to Noviy Urengoy had to be performed at Tyumen-based Roschino Airport, Interfax-Ural reports. ‘The chassis malfunction sensor went on during take-off, and even though the operation went through the second time around, the crew decided to go back to the airport,’ a representative of Tyumen public prosecution authorities for transportation informed Interfax-Ural. The representative also pointed out that none of the five crew members or forty passengers on board were hurt.

Head of Rostechnologii Sergey Chemezov believes that the state-run corporation’s civil assets, including VSMPO Avisma, might be put up to sale in 2014-2015, RIA Novosti reports. ‘I hope this will happen in 2014-2015,’ Chemezov said when asked by reporters about the deadlines for selling Rostechnologii’s civil assets. He added this included VSMPO Avisma, the world’s leading manufacturer of titanium-based goods. According to the official, the shareholdings won’t be sold in one big lump. ‘We mean to sell up to 25% at first, and then a 25% shareholding might be sold as well,’ he explained.

Koltsovo Airport is to invest over 2.86bn RUR in the authorized capital of the emerging Koltsovo Project; this comes to 37.7% of the airport’s assets’ worth. The decision to this respect was made by the company’s Board of Directors. According to the airport’s reports, the transaction is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2012.

Documentation regarding an auction for the organization and coordination of Ural International Industry & Innovations Exhibition & Forum (Innoprom 2012) is now available at the government purchases website. The contract is worth 100m RUR, with money allocated from Sverdlovsk Region budget. The region’s Ministry for Investment & Development is acting as the governmental customer of the service. Ural International Industry & Innovations Exhibition & Forum (Innoprom 2012) will be held in Yekaterinburg on July 12-15, 2012.

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