N.A. Semikhatov Scientific Production Association of Yekaterinburg was awarded the Federal Scientific Production Center status after the corresponding decree had been signed by Head of Russian Federation Government Mikhail Fradkov. The Association comprises 1000 researchers, including 31 Candidates of Sciences and 1 Doctor of Sciences. The new status gives the company some extra benefits and is exempt from the property tax.

Fireproof Works of Kyshtym started producing high-alumina fills in February 2006. As the spokesperson for Magnesite Group said to UrBC representative, the preparatory work started as early as 2005 with learning about the possibility of using various types of raw materials for the fills. After the best mixture had been designed, the production line had to be renovated, as there emerged the issues of acceptance, storing, and processing the new raw materials without any contact with the old kinds. At the moment the production is still experimental, and the results of this experiment are soon to

Oktyabrskiy Court of Yekaterinburg agreed on the preventive punishment for UralTransBank JSC Valeriy Zavodov, detained on March 1, 2006, a day later, reports the court representative. The Court decided that while his criminal lawsuit is being processed, Mr Zavodov had to give a written undertaking not to leave the city. The Chairman has been charged with subornation (Clause 204 (Part 3) of Russian Criminal Code). As previously reported by UrBC, the officers of Oktyabrskiy Internal Affairs Administration investigative force withdrew the documents of UralTransBank JSC on February 14, 2006. This

Tilo Klinner, German Consul General in Yekaterinburg, visited Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil on March 2, 2006. According to the company’s spokesperson, the Complex has for a long time been cooperating with German firms, for example, in the field of production renovation. Thus, the new ultrasound control line was assembled with the help of German Fraunhofer Society for the advancement of applied research; the German subsidiary of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau took part in constructing section machines and # 6 blast furnace; the large machine-building enterprises Krupp

Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank announced that the Board meeting had taken place on February 28, 2006. The meeting resulted in setting the agenda for the annual general meeting. The agenda includes issues having to do with the increase of the company’s authorized capital, the election of the Board members and the President. ‘The meeting will take place on May 26. There’s no knowing how the Board might change before this,’ says President’s Assistant Igor Vasilyev.

Board of Directors of Karpinsk Mashinostroitelny Zavod JSC has come up with the decision to hold an extraordinary stockholders’ meeting on April 6, 2006. The list of stockholders eligible for the meeting is composed according to the situation for March 3, 2006. The shares are nominal and noncertificated, the face value of a single share is 95 RUR. The total quantity of the shares is 247,890 items.

SverdlovEnergoSbyt JSC is welcoming their new Executive Director Sergey Popov, former Chief Engineer of Yekaterinburg Electro-network Company. At the recent top-management meeting, GD Andrey Makarov announced that the shifts would not affect the company’s strategic policy.

In February 2006, Kombinat Magnesite JSC, member of Magnesite Group, supplied a consignment of 1,000 tons of PPTI-1-92 periclase powders to Czech and Romanian factories. The consumers are satisfied with the price and the quality of the shipped powders, hence their demand rates remain stable, the company’s PR-department reported to UrBC representative. Having regard to the state of the market, Magnesite Group is going to extend its presence in Eastern and Central Europe. The company plans for March 2006 provide for supplying a total of 3,000 tons of periclase powders to Germany, Czech Republic

Following the order of Federal Financial Markets Service, National Banking History Bureau was included in the official state roll of bureaus, reports the company’s spokesperson. By February 28, 2006, over 350 banks have signed the information exhange agreements with the Bureau, which means it is now cooperating with crediting organizations from all Russian Federation subjects. At the moment, there is a total of five bureaus on the list.

The similar productions of Evraz Group achieve closer cooperation. As part of these cooperative activities, the metallurgical works of Nizhny Tagil (Nizhnetagilsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat, NTMK JSC) integrated in Evraz Group received a rail rolling metal consignment of 600 tons from another member of Evraz, Novokuznetsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat JSC (metallurgical works of Novokuznetsk). The decision to ship the metal from Novokuznetsk to Nizhny Tagil was made by the Evraz Group balance committee to improve the distribution of production capacities of its metallurgical works, NTMK JSC

CHTZ-Uraltrack Ltd. housed Traktorozavodskiy Technopark Ltd. According to Uraltrack representative Evgeniy Kitaev, the park is home to a furniture factory, leather goods manufacture, ravioli production line, toys and a number of other firms. The new company is to run the commercial management of Uraltrack’s assets, including offering the offices for rent. It has already become the administrator of the company’s main buildings, equipment, engineering services and railways. Thus, it is going to be fully responsible for their repair, protection, and maintenance. The company’s constitutors are

Uralkaliy JSC has distributed its profits for 2005. The company’s stockholders’ meeting has come up with the decision to pay the share dividend of 2.46 RUR, hence the total of distributed profits has come to 5,225,999,400 RUR. The liabilities to stockholders are to have been fulfilled by February 28, 2006. By March 1, 2006, the total of paid share dividends came to 5,149,091,707.44 RUR, the company’s report says. Therefore, the payment of 76,907,692.56 RUR of share dividends remain unfulfilled.

Chelyabgortrans is going to arrange a bank loan of 40 million RUR with Chelyabinsk Administration as guarantor; such was the decision made by the city Duma at the meeting yesterday. ‘To ensure uninterrupted public transport service, we thought it would be a good idea to consider a credit,’ said Vice Mayor for Transportation Vladimir Aleinikov. He believes the money should be used for the repayment of debts and buying combustive-lubricating fuel. Chelyabgortrans owed the local electricity supplier nearly 16.5 million RUR in mid-February, which resulted in power cuts in the buildings and

Ural Business Consulting Agency of Information and Analytics became the member of South Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This Chamber is an NGO aimed at promoting entrepreneurial development. It comprises over 440 enterprises, including a number of major companies of Chelyabinsk Region, and provides for 100 types of services. The membership awarded to UrBC is the reliable indicator of the agency’s reputation; throughout its five years on the information market, the company grew to become the backbone mass medium covering agenda-setting economic issues. The award ceremony is to take

Trubnaya Metallicheskaya Kompaniya (Tube Metallurgical Company) JSC took part in the Russian National Exhibition in Baku on February 20 to 22, 2006. The exhibition was held within the framework of Year of Russiain Azerbaijan celebrations and was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Azerbaijan I. Aliev. Over 170 companies coming from 21 Russian regions presented their produce. The tube company has developed strong partnerships with consumers of Azerbaijan and supplies tubes and pipes of different kinds, including those used in oil- and natural gas-fields development.

Due to the damage done by some rival companies to the high-voltage cables of ComEnergo CJSC (part of KES Holding) that makes up 30% of the total cable damage, the uninterrupted supplies of electricity may not be guaranteed any longer, reports the company’s spokesperson. Thus, residents of 30 private houses in Oktyabrskaya and Naberezhnaya Streets of Krasnoturinsk had power cuts on February 26, 2006. The emergency team only set to work a day later. On February 27, the high-voltage feeder providing for 2 pumphouses, 1 sewage facility, a kindergarten, 2 schools and some blocks of flats stopped

‘GranComBank shareholders are thinking of selling the business to Converse Group in the first half of 2006,’ Chairman Dmitry Kotsyuba announced at the recent briefing. ‘The decision was actually made about two years ago; banking business used to be considered super profitable but the experience of the last couple of years speaks of the opposite. Everybody is having a rather hard time at the moment as large Moscow banks push the smaller crediting organizations away from the market,’ Mr Kotsyuba said. UrBC reported the possible transaction as early as October 2005.

‘The Director of Ziehm Imaging CmbH Jorg-Peter Strebel visited Sverdlovsk Region and met Governor Eduard Rossel. The meeting was also attended by the representatives of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Health and executives of firms dealing in medical equipment,’ reports the PR Department of the Governor. ‘Mr Rossel suggested considering a joint venture dealing in implants and surgical instruments,’ says the press release.

Proprietor of Kluychevsk ferroalloy works S. Gilvarg is going to sign the agreement of lawsuit with Danko Konchar of Croatia who is the 50% shareholder of Russian Chrome CJSC. The conflict was kindled in 2005 when Mr Gilvarg accused Mr Konchar of not meeting the contract liabilities in regard of selling his 50% share of Russian Chrome (the other shares belonged to Stoppani of Italy). The issue was crucial as the three-year agreement signed in the spring of 2005 states that Russian Chrome should deliver 400 tons of chrome oxide to the ferroalloy works monthly. Mr Gilvarg took legal action

‘Chelyabgortrans, our transportation service, is now a very unprofitable business; the city allotted 20 million RUR to support it in January 2006, but it wasn’t even enough to cover the debts that keep building up,’ Mayor of Chelyabinsk Mikhail Yurevitch announced at today’s administration sitting. ‘The problem has to be dealt with somehow, we haven’t raised the ticket fare for 3 years while the fuel has become 2 times and electricity 60% more expensive,’ Mr Yurevitch said. The Mayor says that selling the business to a private owner could result in leaving the remote districts without any