Severouralsk public prosecution authorities instituted administrative proceedings involving Sevuralboksitruda (UC RUSAL’s bauxite mine, aka SUBR); the charges are based on Articles 8.14 (part 1), 7.3, and 14.1 (part 2) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code, namely, violation of water code, unlicensed use of subsoil resources, and unlicensed entrepreneurial activity, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities reports. The authorities’ investigation of the enterprise’s compliance with the water protection regulations detected some grave violations of

The net loss of Bank Severnaya Kazna rose by over 120% in the second quarter of 2009, that is, from 1.2 billion RUR on April 1, 2009 to 2.7 billion RUR on July 1, 2009. The bank explains this has to do with the company’s need to set up reserves for loans and debts.

VUZ-Bank’s net losses amounted to 19.722 million RUR in the second quarter of 2009. At the same time, the bank rounded up the first quarter of the year with 55.393 million RUR worth of losses. VUZ-Bank (Life Group’s asset) explains the smaller losses in the second quarter have been caused by increased net interest yields and tax refunds.

Standard & Poor’s credit rating service demoted TMK Capital’s bond ratings down to B, placing the bonds’ rating on CreditWatch, with Negative rating outlook. ‘We actually believe the Russian steel pipes manufacturer’s business solvency indicators will grow much worse this year than we had expected,’ the agency reports. ‘TMK’s rating has been demoted from B+ to B, with the same Negative rating outlook. We also had to decrease the ratings of two priority debenture bond issues, of which the first one, worth $300m, is to be retired in 2009 and the second $600m one is to be retired in 2011.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court started considering the claim laid by Rusgrad Construction Company against Central Stadium on July 9, 2009. The plaintiff insists on the defendant paying over 23.72 million RUR worth of debts. Central Stadium is one of Sinara Group’s assets; the latter has an agreement with Yekaterinburg municipal council regarding the two parties’ socio-economic cooperation. The stadium was closed for reconstruction in 2004, with the proposed deadline for all the jobs set for the second quarter of 2009, in time for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in

VSMPO-Avisma Corporation’s Board of Directors considered the company’s General Director Evgeniy Romanov’s application for leaving office before the end of his term and decided to let him quit the position on July 12, 2009. During the same meeting, Mikhail Voyevodin was appointed the corporation’s General Director starting July 13, 2009. At the same time, the position of the company’s President was abolished. Prior to this decision, Voyevodin had served as VSMPO-Avisma Corporation’s President since March 20, 2009.

Ural Airlines operated its first flight from Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, to Baku, Azerbaijan (with a stop in Moscow) on July 8, 2009. This flight is to be offered twice a week, that is, every Wednesday and Sunday, and will be operated using A 320 and A 321 aircraft. The timetable for the flight is as follows: For Khanty-Mansiysk-Moscow-Baku flight, the plane leaves Khanty-Mansiysk at 7 AM, arrives in Moscow at 8 AM, departs from Moscow at 10:45 AM and lands in Baku at 2:30 PM. For Baku-Moscow- Khanty-Mansiysk flight, the plane takes off in Baku at 3:30 PM, lands in Moscow at 5:20 PM, departs

General Director of Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation Nazim Efendiev left office to become the company’s BOD Chairman. The spokesperson for the company said to an UrBC reporter that Uralkhimmash’s former General Director Oleg Danchenko was going to become Uralmash’s new GD.

DIXI Group’s annual general meeting resulted in the stockholders’ decision not to pay the dividends for the financial year 2008 due to 199.46 million RUR worth of losses. In addition to making this decision, the shareholders elected the new seven-member Board of Directors and approved of the annual report and the income statement. DIXI Group runs thirteen stores in Sverdlovsk Region and has 492 chains throughout Russia altogether, including 471 Dixi discount stores, 13 Megamart hypermarkets, and 8 Minimart supermarkets in sixteen Russian territorial constituencies within three federal

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to consider the counter-claim laid by Bobrovskiy Insulation Plant against Bank24.ru. The plaintiff wants their security agreement to be declared invalid. The preliminary court hearing has been scheduled for July 8, 2009, with Leader Holding Company involved in the suit as the third party. Meanwhile, Bank24.ru has earlier laid its claims against Bobrovskiy Insulation Plant and Leader Holding Company, insisting that the defendants should pay the bank 67.7 million RUR. The bank also wanted the companies’ mortgaged property arrested. The defendants disagreed

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is going to keep looking into the claim laid by KAB Bank Société Générale Vostok against Pnevmostroymashina and PSM-Gidravlika. The plaintiff insists on the defendants paying the bank 105,601,411.2 RUR and on having the defendants’ mortgaged property arrested. The mortgaged property in question comprises the enterprises’ production facilities. The bank actually demanded an increase in the compensation up to 111,649,309.1 RUR at the last court hearing, with the court ruling in favor of this claim because increased compensation demands do not contradict the

According to the data available as of June 30, 2009, Egorshinskiy Radio Plant’s wage arrears amounted to 52,524,502 RUR, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Service of Court Officers reports. At the same time, the Service’s Artemovskiy district department is now handling the enforcement proceedings that comprise 3,334 cases; the proceedings began on March 13, 2009 and now involve Egorshinskiy Radio Plant and its 116,748,200-ruble debt, including 60,469,093 RUR worth of wage arrears. ‘Having considered the debtor’s property status, the officer of the court detected

BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov took part in a business meeting organized for the Russian and U.S. business executives. The Russian-American business summit was made possible due to the U.S. President Barack Obama’s visiting Moscow early in July. The meeting was attended by heads of Russia and the United States’ leading companies, who spoke about the ways of raising their goods turnover and mutual investments as well as the issue of Russia’s entering the WTO and cooperation in the field of technological development and energy saving. ‘All these

The BOD meeting of VSMPO-Avisma Corporation has been scheduled for July 8, 2009. The main point on the agenda is electing the new General Director, the company’s President Mikhail Voyevodin announced at the opening ceremony of a new titanium articles-treating joint venture in Verkhnyaya Salda, Sverdlovsk Region. The company declared earlier that the corporation’s former GD Evgeniy Romanov had resigned before the end of his term. Romanov confirmed the news today, explaining that he is leaving the corporation for Rostechnologii State Corporation.

The net profit of UralFinPromBank went down by 79.5% (from 17.38 million RUR to 3.57 million RUR) in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter of the year. The bank explains this decrease in net profit has to do with the need to set up reserves that could make up for the possible bad debt losses as well as cover their loan debts; besides, the bank had to spend more on maintenance and pay greater interest on attracted resources.

According to Avtostat agency, Toyota Corolla and Daewoo Nexia are the Urals’ two top selling brands at the moment, followed by Ford Focus. Then, as far as foreign cars are concerned, Mitsubishi Lanser and Hyundai Accent are also quite popular. Then, the Toyota Group makes like Land Cruiser, Camry, Avensis, and Rav-4 sell rather nicely as well. Among the European models (which are delivered abundantly to the Urals), Volkswagen Passat and Renault Logan are definitely the best sellers. Then, the local customers tend to like the Korean models such as Kia Spectra, Daewoo Matiz, and Chevrolet

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to resume the hearing of the claim laid by KAB Bank Société Générale Vostok against Pnevmostroymashina and PSM-Gidravlika on July 7, 2009. The plaintiff insists on the defendants paying the bank 105,601,411.2 RUR and on having the defendants’ mortgaged property arrested. The bank actually demanded an increase in the compensation up to 111,649,309.1 RUR at the last court hearing, with the court ruling in favor of this claim because increased compensation demands do not contradict the law or infringe upon the rights of other people.

KB Citibank is suspected of violating the Russian Federation advertising legislation. Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) intends to look into the lawsuit instituted against the bank, with charges based on Article 18 (part 1) of the Federal Advertising Bill. The thing is, the bank is believed to practice sending text messages to customers/subscribers without their permission. As a matter of fact, the regional division of FAS considered the similar case involving Bank24.ru as recently as last week. The division declared Bank24.ru’s mobile advertising

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps implementing its new social benefits scheme. Metallurg Charity Fund and Chelyabinsk Region’s division of Russian Children’s Fund expanded their children’s support program in 2008. So, the program now involves the children from specialized boarding schools and children without parents living in orphanages. The funds organized special events in the local water park, movies, the children’s club, Abzakovo sports center, and Berezki sanatorium for these children, spending over 900,000 RUR on these activities. According to MMK’s PR Department, the

2,106,359 of Uralfinprombank’s ordinary shares (a 5.85% shareholding) have been sold by the bank’s BOD member Valeriy Metelskiy, who is thus no longer the bank’s stockholder. The shares were apparently bought by Anna V. Metelskaya, whose shareholding thus rose from 4.15% to 10%. Meanwhile, Uralfinprombank’s representative explained to an UrBC reporter the transaction in question was the equity carve-out rather than an acquisition of any sort.