Sverdlovsk Region’s presentation for the potential investors was coordinated on the premises of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s permanent representation under the Russian Federation President in Moscow. The presentation was organized by the region’s Economics Ministry. Sverdlovsk Region was represented by First Deputy Head of Government and Economics Minister Mikhail Maksimov, First Deputy Economics Minister Vitaly Nedelny, and Deputy Minister Viktor Dolzhenko. The government officials presented the Mid-Urals’ potential to the heads of Siemens, SKF, Lafarge SA, MAN B&W DIESEL, Veolia

The authorized representatives of Russia’s Central Bank have been appointed in twenty-one Russian banks, the Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports. The Central Bank still keeps a close eye on such Urals-based banks as OAO Bank24.ru, OAO Bank Severnaya Kazna, and OAO Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank. In addition, the bank’s representatives are still operating in Bank VTB, OAO Alfa-Bank, Sberbank of Russia, OAO Bank of Moscow, ZAO Bank Russkiy Standard, OAO Rosselkhozbank, and some others.

The shoe manufacturing company Ecco that is currently working on the introduction of a chain store network in Russia is planning on expanding its retail sales. Ecco Russia Development Department’s Director Dmitry Chuikov says the company will probably set up ten new stores in cities whose population comes to at least one million people and in the neighboring towns next year. This means that in 2011, the new mono-brand shops could open in Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, and Tyumen, among others. Ecco is going to focus on the stores located within large shopping malls. According to Molly.ru, a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 9, 2010. Lufthansa’s flight LH 1480 from Frankfurt to Yekaterinburg was cancelled today, Koltsovo Airport’s interactive announcement board states. The plane was to have landed in Yekaterinburg at 6:45 AM, but the arrival was first put off till 9:50 AM and then called off altogether. This naturally means that flight LH 1481 from Yekaterinburg to Frankfurt was also cancelled; the aircraft was supposed to have taken off in Koltsovo first at 9:10 AM and then and 10:30 AM. The airline’s press service reports the flight was called off because of bad weather in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 9, 2010. Alfa-Bank placed an application with Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court: the bank insists that OOO Ural Power Machine-Building Plant be declared bankrupt, the court’s press officer reports. ‘We received an application to this extent. The case has not been accepted for a court hearing yet, we have five days to consider the claim,’ the press officer explains. Now the plant happens to be the core production site for Teploenergoservice group. The plant is located on the premises of Uralmash techno-park in Yekaterinburg, with the total production area of all

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 9, 2010. Rive Gauche, a perfume and cosmetics chain store might buy the Russian branch of the German Douglas Rivoli. The chain controlled by Oleg Boiko is currently one of the businesses that are most likely to take over Douglas, Kommersant reports. Douglas operates one store in Yekaterinburg at the Park House Mall. OOO Douglas Rivoli that runs thirty-one stores in Russia altogether announced in the fall of 2010 that it was planning on selling the business. Taiga Capital, an investment company, was asked to look for a customer. The offer first interested Alcor

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 9, 2010. OAO Second Freight Company will start operating in the second half of 2011 at the earliest, the company’s General Director Vitaly Evdokimenko announced in the course of a meeting dedicated to Sverdlovsk Region’s freight haulers with the Russian Railways. ‘The company is expected to reach its full operational capacity in the summer,’ he said. The businessman explained that during the transition period, the freight company’s fleet will b operated by a territorial center for transport service under an agency agreement. It was also reported in the course of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. The delegation of Latvian officials suggested that Yekaterinburg businesspeople invest in the republic’s economy. A delegation from Riga headed by the city’s mayor Nil Ushakov arrived in Yekaterinburg recently. The Latvian officials coordinated a business seminar for the representatives of the Urals’ business community. ‘Building up on economic cooperation with the Russian provinces is an important part of our work. We are greatly interested in the Ural Region; we support the local food manufacturers and are willing to deliver our foods here. We also see

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. An Israeli company Taldor Arie Rimini might be contracted to create Sverdlovsk Region’s e-government, the regional officials decided during their recent visit to Israel. The delegation comprised the region’s First Deputy Economics Minister Vitaly Nedeslsky and the Counselor to the Minister of Economics Dmitry Kalayev. It has been decided that the Israeli IT experts could consult the project developers on the launch of a product that is unique to Russia for the time being. The Russian officials also visited the technological institute Technion during

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. ‘Our sales of Chrysler automobiles plummeted when the recession began. This is why, in order to avoid financial risks, our company started working with individual orders rather than stocking. Depending on the logistics, one’s car will arrive in something between two weeks and three months,’ the Sales Department of Asmoto, a car show based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region, told UrBC. In the meantime, ZAO Chrysler RUS reports they are going to set up another dealership in Yekaterinburg. ‘The rumors to this extent have been circulating for a long

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin met Chairman of Riga Duma Nil Ushakov to discuss the two territories’ cooperation potential in the field of trade, science, education, culture, and tourism (including the introduction of a direct flight from Sverdlovsk Region to Latvia). The Governor said a positive trend could be noticed in the development of Sverdlovsk Region and Latvia’s relations. Nil Ushakov said in his turn that a direct Yekaterinburg-Riga flight would promote tourism, given especially the fact that Latvia’s airport is a great

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. The story of a well-known Russian hockey player Pavel Datsyuk responding to the participants of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s essay contest for children took a new turn. The famous player, who is, in fact, an alumnus of Yekaterinburg hockey school and one of the National Hockey League’s top ten players as well as a multiple Olympic and World champion and winner of the world’s most valuable hockey trophy, the Stanley Cup, wrote some letters to the contestants. The letters are addressed to five children who go in for hockey and who

UrBC, Moscow, December 8, 2010. The international rating agency placed X5 Retail Group N.V. BB- long-term credit rating on CreditWatch, with Negative rating outlook; this means the ratings could be demoted or affirmed. At the same time, Standard & Poor's placed OAO Kopeika Trade House’s B- long-term credit rating and ruBBB national scale rating on CreditWatch with Positive rating outlook, which means the ratings could be promoted or affirmed. ‘Both companies’ ratings were placed on CreditWatch after X5 Retail Group reported it had bought a 100% shareholding in Kopeika,’ the agency’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2010. 'The video clip which featured foxes running down the city streets was quite good, but in didn’t really do any good to the company it was supposed to promote. I feel this particular ad campaign is a classic example of the admen getting creative for the sake of getting creative, and nothing else. Sadly, this happens quite often when the admen focus on the creative aspects so much that they go out of their way to come up with something breath-taking but entirely forget about the customers’ interests in the process. They don’t stop to think, ‘Will this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2010. A number of Sverdlovsk Region’s government officials met the experts of Standard & Poor's International Services, Inc. Moscow representation. In the course of the meeting, the officials’ reports on the region’s economic and financial situation were considered and discussed, the regional Ministry for Economics reports. This meeting is expected to influence the rating agency’s policy regarding the possible changes in Sverdlovsk Region’s credit rating that is currently set at BB, with Stable rating outlook.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2010. ‘The clients who paid for an advertising campaign which features foxes are more likely to sustain losses than make a profit,’ Director of Public Relations Development & Modernization Institute Evgeny Potapov told UrBC. In fact, the ad campaign in question, which was launched in Yekaterinburg recently, turned out to be an act of manipulation. It was reported in the media at the end of December that some foxes were spotted in downtown Yekaterinburg; this news was actually the beginning of an advertising campaign organized to promote ZAO Uralbroiler. As

UrBC, Moscow, December 7, 2010. Alfa-Bank’s outlet in Krasnodar had to block 7,000 bank cards because their PINs had been stolen, RIA Novosti refers to the bank as saying. The cards were allegedly compromised through one of Krasnodar-based banks’ ATM network. ‘The bank decided to block the cards to protect its customers’ interests, since their PIN-codes were probably made known to some swindlers. This means we managed to prevent a large-scale money-stealing attempt,’ Alfa-Bank reports. All the cards which have been thus compromised will be replaced free of charge.

UrBC, Moscow, December 7, 2010. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service ruled that the agreement signed by OOO Rexam Beverage Can Naro-Fominsk and OAO Baltika Beer Brewery is actually anti-competitive and violates Article 11 (part 2) of the Competition Protection Act. The violation consisted in that the agreement, signed in 2006, determined certain terms of handling one-liter aluminum cans. According to the Service, the agreement in question limited the other beer producers’ right to package its produce in one-liter aluminum cans, which, in its turn, limited the customers’ choice of beer

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2010. ZAO Mobil, one of the contractors involved in the construction of Vysotsky skyscraper (part of Antey Business Center), declared it is no longer responsible for the building’s future fate. ‘Our company has been providing the window panes for Antey since 2007. The most advanced technologies were employed in the process, for example, we even handled large 800kg window pane sets. Over the time, the customer came to owe us 20 million RUR altogether, and we decided to sign a debt-settling agreement with the customer at the final stage. However, when the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2010. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court ruled on October 28, 2010 that OOO Alcomarket Magnum-8, a strong drinks store located at 58 Sverdlov St. (Off 27) in Yekaterinburg should be declared bankrupt, thus closing case А60-34693/2010-С14, Kommersant reports under its Declarations of Insolvency heading. In fact, the other members of the chain store OOO Alcomarket Magnum and OOO Alcomarket Magnum-4 were also declared bankrupt earlier on.