OAO Concern Kalina’s Board of Directors decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting so that the holders of the Russian cosmetics and cleaning chemicals manufacturer’s shares approve of a decrease in the concern’s authorized capital. The reduction will be achieved through the company buying out a portion of its own shares in order to cut down on their total amount. The EGM has been scheduled for January 11, 2011.

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service accepted the petition of Surgutneftegaz, a non-state retirement fund, and allowed the company to buy a 75.64% shareholding in OAO UTair Airlines, the Service reports. UTair, a domestically operating air carrier, is currently one of the world’s top four helicopter giants. In 2004, the 75.64% shareholding was transferred to OOO Central Surgut Depository from Surgut municipal council and the government of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region. The local authorities actually sold their shares to an outside investor.

The solemn opening ceremony at Noyabrskaya combined cycle power plant had to be cancelled because of bad weather today. A strong wind forced the airplane with Russia’s Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin (the event’s special guest) on board land in Surgut. The plane with other ceremony participants, including a number of reporters, which took off in Yekaterinburg, had to perform a landing in Tyumen and wait for over five hours for a permission to operate the flight. In the end, it was decided that the event should be canceled altogether and that all the quests invited should travel

Sverdlovsk Region Government has recently announced a tender for the delivery of iPad computers for the state’s needs. According to the official state purchases website, the government is ready to buy ‘portable digital electronic computers for automated data processing; weight required: under ten kg.’ The customer is looking for computers with the following parameters: support of UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth data transfer and 64 Gb flash memory module. Applications can be made until November 26, 2010. The opening bid has been determined at 198,000 RUR for six iPad computers.

An on-site scheduled inspection of OAO Stroyplastpolymer aimed at checking the company’s compliance with the environmental legislation has by now been completed. OAO Stroyplastpolymer is a multi-field enterprise dealing in production of linoleum, bricks, sticky tapes, mastics, section products, and other polymeric materials. Six environmental legislation offenses were detected in the course of the inspection. However, one of the problems, namely, unauthorized construction waste storage, was eliminated prior to the end of the inspection. OAO Stroyplastpolymer had its construction waste removed

OAO Bank Uralsib is getting ready to launch an IPO or to sell its shares immediately to a strategic investor next year. The bank is willing to offer its investors as much as a blocking shareholding in the business. At the start of the week, the bank representatives brought the issue up at their meeting with some western investment banks in London, RBC daily reports. The newspaper quotes its source in the bank as saying that as many as eight applications for the shares have already been placed by the world’s leading investment banks, including one by JP Morgan. Two lead managers will be chosen

Head of the Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin took part in the launch of ZAO ChTPZ Group’s new investment project Iron Ozone 32, a steel-smelting facility. The solemn launching ceremony included making a pilot batch of steel on the new department’s arc furnace. The implementation of the regional metallurgical industry’s largest project since the outbreak of the recession was made possible due to state support. In 2008, ChTPZ Group was placed on the list of Russia’s core enterprises; in 2009, Sberbank offered the company an eight-billion-ruble loan to complete the new department.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 18, 2010. X5 Retail Group announced they were going to contest the fines imposed on the company by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service. ‘The company, which comprises such supermarket chains as Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, and Carousel, is made up of independent legal entities that deal in retail trade as separate operators. On August 1, 2010, ZAO Perekrestok Trade House started running Pyaterochka chain instead of OOO Ural Retail. The FAS’s Sverdlovsk Region division was informed of the changes during their inspection of Pyaterochka.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 18, 2010. Ural Airlines welcomed its 1,500,000th passenger aboard its plane today. The company’s Planning Department experts have calculated earlier that the record-setting passenger should be checking in for the morning Yekaterinburg-Saint Petersburg flight on Thursday. The name of the lucky person was determined a few minutes before the boarding; this was Nadezhda Petrova, an engineer employed at Ural Instrument-Making Plant. ‘This came as a total surprise to me; I’ve never won anything before, this is why I am especially delighted to become this 1,500,000th

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 18, 2010. OAO Uralredmet based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region, got some new stockholders recently. A 15.78% shareholding was acquired by LAOAG Technical& Metallurgical Services Limited from Raghav Jugendra Singh, who, in his turn, bought the holding from Gobest International Limited Corporation at the end of October 2010, Uralredmet reports.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 17, 2010. Ural Airlines is about to introduce one more flight bound for China. In addition to the two weekly flights to Beijing and once-a-fortnight flight to Hainan which are already available, the air carrier is adding a third weekly flight to the Chinese capital (to be operated every Thursday) to its timetable. ‘Last year, we switched to a new departure/arrivals terminal in Beijing Airport upon our passengers’ request. When the flight was first introduced, we were only allowed to use Terminal 2 which is mainly meant for the Chinese domestically operating

Chelyabinsk Region keeps increasing its trade turnover with the U.S. in the aftermath of the recession and is interested in expanding the area of their cooperation, region’s Governor Mikhail Yurevitch said during his presentation on the region’s investment potential to America’s major businesses in Moscow. The presentation was organized on the premises of Chelyabinsk Region’s permanent representation under the Russian Federation Government, the Governor’s press service explained. According to Governor Yurevitch, Chelyabinsk Region is involved in trade with 120 different countries; for one,

The public prosecution authorities of Kushva, Sverdlovsk Region, are now checking the compliance with the safety regulations at OAO Vysokogorsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (VGOK) Yuzhnaya mine. The inspection was organized after an accident occurred on the premises of the mine on November 16, 2010. A massive chunk of rock mass fell upon the scaffolds where two miners were working; as a result, one of them got a bad bruise on his head, while the other got injured very seriously and passed away at a hospital later. Kushva’s public prosecutor has by now arrived at the scene of the

‘We can only welcome more Finnish businesses in the Mid-Urals,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said at his meeting with Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen. The Minister arrived in Sverdlovsk Region as the head of a special delegation made up of some 150 representatives of the Finnish business community. The Governor declared he was glad to see more Finnish companies arrive in the Mid-Urals and said he believed the region and the Finnish businesses needed more joint ventures, including those in the field of innovations, transportation,

Alchrome Enterprises Limited announced recently that it had bought a 91.55% shareholding in OAO Klyuchevsky ferrous alloys plant (Rosspetssplav Management Company). The enterprise never used to be Sverdlovsk Region-based company’s stockholder before. It was also reported at the same time that OOO Nezavisimy Registrator which used to own this 91.55% holding is now longer one of Klyuchevsky plant’s shareholders.

Over twenty Chinese companies are going to take part in the upcoming Mining Business exhibition in Yekaterinburg, vice-chief of the Harbin department on trade Van Inun announced at a meeting in Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of International & Foreign Economic Relations. Apart from the Chinese enterprises, Harbin’s four free economic zones are also going to present their stands at the exhibition. The agenda of the event provides for talks, presentations, and experience-sharing. Given Sverdlovsk Region’s high potential, the Chinese party is interested not only in trading options but also in

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service decided to annul the licenses allowing OOO Eurogreen Investment & Finance Company to deal in brokerage and dealership operations, management of securities, and depositary operations in the capacity of a professional stock market player. The licenses, registered as No. 166-10513-100000 (brokerage),166-10514-010000 (dealership), 166-10515-001000 (securities), and 166-10518-000100 (depositary transactions), were all issued on September 6, 2007. The Service reports the decision was taken after the company had violated the Russian securities

Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg might complete the process of handing its shares over to Sverdlovsk Region early in 2011, the region's Minister for State Property Management Vladimir Levchenko said at Sverdlovsk Region Duma recent sitting. The minister confirmed that the regional authorities would like to obtain the airport's controlling shareholding in the future. Vladimir Levchenko first voiced the ministry's intention to get 40% of Koltsovo Airport's shares as early as a year ago, in December 2010.

The net loss of UC RUSAL's Polevskoy cryolite plant (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) rose by 2.2 times over January to September 2010 compared with January-September 2009, that is, up to 192.645 million RUR, the company's report states. The plant's revenues increased by 10% and reached 613.842 million RUR. According to the report, the increased losses were brought about by the dropping demand for the plant's produce.

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service found Evraz Group's Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK) guilty of violating the existing Competition Protection Act. The Service claims that NTMK set monopolistic prices for its ZET-310 section products, with prices differing for different groups of consumers, RBC daily reports. The enterprise is now facing a fine which might amount to anything between 1% and 15% of its turnover. According to the Antimonopoly Service, NTMK made 10% to 200% of profit on the product in question, while the difference in prices set for different customer