Chairman of Bank24.ru Sergey Lapshin placed a claim against Business Club Globus CJSC with the court of Chkalovskiy District of Yekaterinburg. The case is to be heard on June 14, 2006. ‘Mr Lapshin demands that the agreement concerning the acquisition of shares of Stroyplastpolymer Works JSC by the plaintiff be declared invalid,’ the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Regional Court Ekaterina Balaeva said to UrBC representative. The transaction involving 19.66% of the plant’s shares was conducted in 2004.

Russian Central Bank Administration in Chelyabinsk Region registered the third extra share issue by Chelyabinsk Commercial Land Bank CJSC. There are 25,954,768 shares with a par value of 1 RUR per share altogether, the total worth of the issue thus comes to 25,954,768 RUR. This issue is to be allotted among the bank’s shareholders and the idea behind it is to raise the authorized capital that should reach the point of 100,954,768 RUR. Everything is to be completed within June, the bank’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

Power generating company OGK-5 is going to assemble a combined-cycle plant at Sredneuralskaya state district power plant. According to the company’s Strategic Development Director Nikolai Morilov, the project costs over $300m that is expected to come from the share issues and loans. The combined-cycle plant will probably be launched in 2009, to be followed by the upgrading of the old equipment. First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Vladimir Molchanov has already discussed the project feasibility and potential with OGK-5 executives.

Athena CJSC is going to hold the annual general meeting on June 26, 2006. The agenda includes approving of the company’s annual report for 2005, P & L distribution, including the question of dividends. Besides, the shareholders will have to elect the company’s Board, the inspection committee, and the company’s Auditor.

‘During the celebrations of the first unit reconstruction completion of Heat Power Plant No. 12, President of Solikamskbumprom JSC V.I. Baranov declared that the second unit reconstruction will be carried out by the same team that had earlier reconstructed the first unit. The team is made up of qualified professionals of Ural Turbine Works, member of RENOVA Group,’ PR-department of Ural Turbine Works CJSC reported. ‘The decision of Solikamskbumprom top-management is connected with the fact that Ural Turbine Works manufactured a new condensing exhaust turbine K-17 for the heat power plant

The annual general meeting of Mechel-Bank Commercial Bank JSC is to be held on June 23, 2006. The agenda contains approving of the company’s annual report, the annual accounting statements, the profit distribution and the declaration of dividends for 2005. The stockholders will also elect members of the Board of Directors and of the inspection commission, appoint the company’s auditor and adopt a new version of the articles of the association.

Within the first quarter of 2006, the net profit of Asha Metallurgical Works went down by 47% (by 154,437,852 RUR) against the previous quarter. The reduction of the net profit is due to a decrease in the goods’ sales proceeds, which, in its turn, is a result of a decline in the company’s business activity caused by the enormously cold weather during the winter of 2006, the company’s press release says. Thus, the net profit Asha Metallurgical Works in the first quarter of 2006 came to 173,838,202 RUR.

Vysokogorsky ore mining and processing enterprise (VGOK JSC, member of Evraz Group) held a meeting concerning organization of the Ninth Ural Mining Industry Congress on June 28-29, 2006. The congress will be held as a part of celebrations of the company’s 285th anniversary and will be attended by representatives of Sverdlovsk Regional Government, Nizhny Tagil local administration, EvrazHolding Management Company and members of the press. This was reported by VGOK PR-department.

Annual general meeting of Chelyabinskhlebproduct JSC is to be held on June 22, 2006. The agenda contains approving of the financial results for 2005, declaration of dividends, election of the Board of Directors and the inspection commission and the appointment of the company’s auditor.

Sverdlovsk Region Mortgage Lending Agency SAIZHK JSC has recently completed the third share issue, with the company’s authorized capital coming to 100 million RUR. According to Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Public Property Management Alexei Molotkov, the agency is also thinking of another issue in the nearest future.

‘Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise JSC (part of Evraz Group) has come up with a scheme to reduce production costs in 2006. The most significant change would affect the batch mixture that comes with the agglomerate as we are going to add some martite and slime of Ivanovskiy slime depository to it; this is expected to reduce out expenses dramatically,’ says the spokesperson for Evraz Group. ‘Another way to cut costs is to upgrade the turbine compressor of Yestyuninskaya mine. The company is also planning to renovate the railroads at Magnetitovaya mine; other projects concern

Following numerous complaints by some companies concerning the activity of Chelyabenergosbyt JSC, Chelyabinsk Region Federal Antimonopoly Service started investigating the supplier in April 2006. Most complaints had to do with the alleged disadvantageous terms of purchase-and-sale agreements that companies needed to sign in order to buy electricity (extra charge for over- or under-use of electricity compared to the amount stated in the contract, fines for each revealed deviation from the contract, etc.). As the spokesperson for Chelyabinsk Region Federal Antimonopoly Service said to UrBC

On June 1-2, 2006, the first Russian-French workshops by Société Générale Orient are held within the framework of French Business Spring in Yekaterinburg. Société Générale Vostok is fully owned by the French banking group Société Générale based in Moscow in 1993 as an investments bank.. Yet since 2003, the bank turned into a universal one providing its services to both companies and individual clients. ‘A universal bank like ours cannot limit its operation to Moscow only, we are targeted at the regional development as well, and Yekaterinburg is one of the first cities where we’ve set up an

On May 26, 2006, Chelyaboblcomunenergo JSC held the general shareholder meeting that resulted in the positive assessment of the company’s financial activity in 2005 (the annual report and the accounting report), and of the profit and loss statement. The shareholders decided to pass the issued equity dividend for 2005 and also elected eleven Board Members, the inspection committee, and the company’s Auditor (UralAudit Ltd.). The GD elections resulted in appointing Maxim Aronov General Director for the next five years.

‘Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise JSC (part of Evraz Group) has come up with a scheme to reduce production costs in 2006. The most significant change would affect the batch mixture that comes with the agglomerate as we are going to add some martite and slime of Ivanovskiy slime depository to it; this is expected to reduce out expenses dramatically,’ says the spokesperson for Evraz Group. ‘Another way to cut costs is to upgrade the turbine compressor of Yestyuninskaya mine, which is going to pay off handsomely (a 800% return on investments is predicted). The company is also

Alexander Rybkin was appointed Managing Director of Metallurgical Works of Zlatoust JSC on June 1, 2006, succeeding Pavel Gurkalov who is now going to become Deputy GD of ESTAR Ltd., the managing company for the Works, and head the company’s special steel division, the spokesperson for ESTAR said to UrBC representative. Mr Rybkin has been working for the Works for 38 years and was Production Director before his new appointment.

The executives of Ural Turbine Works CJSC (part of Renova Group) participated in the presentation of Reconstruction of Cogeneration Plant-12 Project alongside with Solikamskbumprom JSC that has been offered the K-17 turbine ordered from the UTB well before the deadline. ‘The company considered the project to be highly important, that is why we completed the order early using the parts we had in stock,’ said Commercial Director of Ural Turbine Works Alexei Sedunin. Within the framework of the reconstruction project, a new condensing electricity production cycle was installed at the heat power

Following the investigations carried out on two employers (CEO of Yuryuzanskiy Machine-building Works M. Bukhvalov and former director of Yuzhniy Ural JSC A. Lebedev) in May, some indicting documents were sent to the public prosecution bodies in order to charge the possible offenders with violation of Clause 145 of Russian Criminal Code, the spokesperson for Chelyabinsk Labor Inspectorate said to UrBC representative. This led to taking legal action against Mr Lebedev for arrears of wages. In the course of the second examination of Yuzhniy Ural JSC premises (run by G. Byvaltsev), there emerged

Uralprombank JSC has experienced some changes in the Board participation in the company’s authorized capital. Chairman Valeriy Efros bought 43.996% of the bank’s ordinary shares (his previous share comprised 31.826%). At the same time, the share of Mikhail Parfentiev, head of the bank’s management, dropped from 4.397% to 0%. The same happened to the share of deputy head Yuriy Kachalin (from 3.98% to 0%), the company’s report says. According to Mr Parfentiev, all of these changes were discussed with and approved by the Central Bank within 1.5 months. He refused to explain these changes though

Chelyabinsk Mechanical Works JSC has accumulated 19.7 million RUR worth of debts by May 1, 2006, the spokesperson for Chelyabinsk Labor Inspectorate said to UrBC representative. The other big debtors are Sinara of Kaslinskiy area, (623,000 RUR), Engineering Networks Ltd. of Trekhgorniy (599,000 RUR), Yuryuzanskiy Machine-building Works JSC of Yuryuzan (589,000 RUR) Colos-S Ltd. of Kartalinskiy area (449,000 RUR), BZGO-Detal Ltd. of Satka (374,000 RUR).