The Federal Antimonopoly Service took legal action against Uralsevergaz-NGK, claiming that the latter violated the federal bill on the protection of competition (part 1, Article 10) through imposing the disadvantageous agreement terms upon their customers. The lawsuit was initiated following Ural Gas Networks’ complaints. The spokesperson for the Service reports Uralsevergaz-NGK is currently Sverdlovsk Region’s only natural gas supplier and can boast a 65% share of the gas supply market. Ural Gas Networks owns a number of boiler installations in the region and depends on natural gas for fuel.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel met the new top executive of Confectionery Group SladCo. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the Norwegian Orkla’s CEO introduced SladCo’s new General Director Vadim Ter-Israelyan to Eduard Rossel. Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister for Agriculture and Food Sergey Chemesov, who was also present at the meeting, said the reconstruction of the confectioner’s business and certain degree of redundancy did not result in any social clashes, and suggested that the shareholders consider expanding the range of foods the company

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to state-run for-profit organizations for 1 to 3 years dropped by 100% (from 2.916 million RUR to zero) in January-May 2008.

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (part of ChTPZ Group)’s finishing center now became the site for assembling the OCTG production facility. At the moment, the workers are piecing together the equipment meant for manufacturing of fittings with the diameter of up to 195 mm. The shop has already been fitted with two stampers and two rinsers as well as an automated conveying system in between. Next, two saws supplied by Austrian Linsinger will have to be installed. In addition to the assembly jobs, the workers are busy with the start-up and commissioning. The enterprise is about to receive SMS Meer’s

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to for-profit financial organizations for over 3 years went down by 97.83% (from 18.599 million RUR to 403,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

RusRating estimated URSA Bank’s eighth bond issue at BB+ (Stable Outlook), which means that the agency sees URSA Bank’s financial affairs as satisfactory and steady. The bank went through with its eighth bond issue (filing number 40800323В) worth 10 billion RUR altogether on April 17, 2008. 6.203 billion RUR worth of bonds was sold during the auction, while the annual interest rate was determined at 11.19% a year. Based on this year’s performance, the profitability of the issue is expected to come to 11.5% a year. RusRating reports the bond issue’s rating is connected with the bank’s credit

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to private individuals for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 98.07% (from 3 million RUR to 58,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

Ural Airlines started operating its flights to Simferopol and Blagoveshchensk again on June 2, 2008 due to the beginning of the vacation season. Yekaterinburg-Simferopol-Yekaterinburg flight is available every Monday. The plane leaves Yekaterinburg at 12.45 PM and arrives in Simferopol at 1.20 PM, then takes off in Simferopol at 3 PM and lands in Yekaterinburg at 9.15 PM. The duration of the flight comes to 3 ¼ hours, the airline’s press officer reports. During the summertime, these flights will be offered four times a week. Yekaterinburg-Blagoveshchensk flight is operated every Monday; the

SKB-Bank’s Chairman Mikhail Khodorovskiy was elected Deputy Chairman of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia at the association’s twenty-third general meeting. Alexander Murychev, the association’s Chairman, and Anatoly Aksakov, the association’s President and the State Duma deputy, spoke very highly of this choice. The Association of Regional Banks of Russia is the first all-Russian banking union founded in 1990 and consisting of over four hundred members at the moment, these being some major players of the country’s banking market, western banks’ daughter enterprises, and provincial

A number of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s shareholders sold portions of the shares they had. Ural Avia’s share decreased from 21.71425 % to 19.54177 %; Bank Severnaya Kazna Supervisory Board member Leonid Bratzev reduced his share from .81200 % to .73076 %; Bank Severnaya Kazna BOD member Vladimir Veselov’s share went down from .08294 % to .07464%; Bank Severnaya Kazna Supervisory Board member Roman Vitkovskiy reduced his share from .36036 % to .32431 %; Bank Severnaya Kazna Supervisory Board member and Chairman Andrei Volchik reduced his share from 1.68733 % to 1.51851%; Bank Severnaya Kazna BOD

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralfinance to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 74.51% (from 53.95 million RUR to 13.75 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

According to the local public prosecution authorities’ transport department, 726 people were injured at Sverdlovsk Region Railways and South Ural Railways in 2007. This includes 405 fatal accidents. 185 people were injured in the first quarter of 2008, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 17%. ‘One of the reasons for non-industrial injuries is the failure of transport enterprises to take the necessary accident-preventive measures as well as the fact that they often maintain the platforms and the pedestrian crossings and decks very poorly. To make matters worse, guard rails and

One of ChTPZ Complex Pipe Systems’ plants based in Magnitogorsk has been successfully audited by QS Azia Sertik (based in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan) and proved the compliance of its quality management system with the ST RK ISO 9001-2001 standards. The above-mentioned standard has been adopted by the Republic of Kazakhstan as the official state standard and is based on the international ISO 9001:2000 one. ‘The fact that the enterprise’s produce met the Kazakh official standards greatly facilitated the signing of the contract that makes ChTPZ Complex Pipe Systems the supplier of component parts for

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to local governments and Russian Federation subjects’ finance bodies for 91 to 180 days plummeted by 100% (from 14 million RUR to zero) in January-May 2008.

The share of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s BOD Chairman Vladimir Frolov in the company’s authorized capital went down from 25% to 22.49878% of the bank’s ordinary shares. At the same time, East Capital Explorer Financial Institution Fund AB now owns 10.00486% of the bank’s ordinary shares instead of none.

Yekaterinburg-based More Travel was excluded from the United Federal Register of tour operators. The decree to this extent has recently been signed by head of the Federal Tourism Agency (aka Rostourism) V. Strzhalkovskiy.

Ural Treasures Bank has recently offered its customers some new types of deposits. The Universal deposit is valid for 367 days; the customer can withdraw part of the money from their deposit provided the minimum deposit amount is left in the account. Besides, the deposit agreement may be called off earlier (the interest rates will then be determined on the basis of the bank’s early-termination interest rate scale), the bank’s press officer reports. The Savings deposit gives one a chance to plan the deposit period in between 91 and 732 days. The interest rate remains the same throughout the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for up to 30 days dropped by 64.28% (from 14 million RUR to 5 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

‘I should say that every once in a while, some old-time investment companies actually close down after all. Iset-Invest would not be the only example of this. I would assume that the recent annulment of the license of a professional securities market player has to do with the proprietors’ decision not to go on working in the current fiercely competitive environment. Modestly-sized provincial investment companies find it increasingly difficult to stay on the market, and this market’s opportunities are not the best for the local players (that is, for about a quarter of all investment

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) took part in the 3d conference on corporate web portals and blogs for metallurgical businesses. The event was coordinated by Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt (the magazine), the Russian Union of Metal Goods Suppliers, and Metal-Expo. The conference was part of the international industrial fairs devoted to metallurgical machinery, technologies, and produce (Metallurgy. Litmash 2008), Russian pipes (Pipes. Russia 2008), and non-ferrous metals (Aluminum/Tsvetmet 2008) held in Moscow on May 27-30, 2008. The 3d conference on corporate web portals and blogs for