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05 aug. 2008 04:14	Mechel plight not to harm Russia's investment climate
The World Bank does not expect the situation around Mechel to have negative consequences for Russia's investment climate, Klaus Rohland, the bank's Director and Resident Representative in Russia, told journalists today. He pointed out that investment was still made on a large scale in Russia. Meanwhile, he noted that the market's overreaction to Mechel's plight had once again proved that investors like stability and positive news. Russia needs to develop institutions preventing violations of law by companies, such as the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and the Federal Financial Markets Service, Rohland said. He stressed that while it was fairly easy to create a market economy, the establishment of efficient government institutions that could deal with the economy's problems was much more difficult.        RBC-News
05 aug. 2008 04:14	VSMPO to Up Production
VSMPO-Avisma, the world's biggest titanium producer, said it planned to spend $1 billion to increase production through 2012, Interfax reported Monday. State-controlled VSMPO plans to increase annual output of titanium products to 46,000 tons to 48,000 tons in five years, Interfax reported.       Bloomberg
05 aug. 2008 04:13	Norilsk Talks on CEO
Federal Tourism Agency chief Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who has been nominated by Interros for the post of Norilsk Nickel CEO, told reporters Monday that he had held talks with Norilsk shareholders Mikhail Prokhorov and Oleg Deripaska. Strzhalkovsky confirmed that he was ready to take over as CEO after an Aug. 8 Norilsk board meeting and said he had discussed the move with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "If I hadn't been prepared, I would not have offered my candidacy," he said, declining to elaborate further.        The Moscow Times
05 aug. 2008 04:12	Severstal Unit Buys Italian Firm
Severstal-metiz Group, Severstal's steel wire and wire products division, announced Monday that it had acquired Italian-based wire-rope producer Redaelli Tecna, as cash-heavy Russian metals firms look to expand abroad. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but analysts estimated it at 60 million euros to 100 million euros ($93 million to $156 million). The companies said synergies would allow them to save 10.3 million euros ($16 million) over the next five years. Severstal said it would help the Italian firm to distribute in the former Soviet Union, while Redaelli said it would bring the Russian side closer to its European customers. "The acquisition of Redaelli will allow our company to widen our products line and widen our distribution capacities," Severstal-metiz chief Olga Naumova said in a news conference via video link from Italy. Redaelli chief Maurizio Prete said the company needed Severstal to boost capacity. "We have lots of orders and are now eight to nine months late with our clients because we do not have enough capacities to produce," he said. "I hope that we will be able to meet that demand with the help of our new Russian partners." Redaelli is a "very profitable" company that will provide Severstal with much-needed expertise, said Yevgeny Bulanov, a metals analyst with CIG investment group. "Redaelli has very good profitability with an EBITDA of 15.7 percent, which is a rarity for a Russian hardware-producing company," he said, estimating the value of the purchase at 60 million euros. "Severstal-metiz aims to produce products with more added value, and for this reason it needs Redaelli's technologies," Bulanov said. Alfa Bank metals analyst Maxim Semenovykh said Severstal paid up to 100 million euro for the company. In the deal, RTS-traded Severstal-metiz bought 100 percent of the privately held Redaelli, including its production, technological, center and distribution divisions. Severstal-metiz's shares closed unchanged Monday.        The Moscow Times
05 aug. 2008 04:11	Metalloinvest Sees 2008 Revenues of $11Bln
Metalloinvest, the miner founded by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, forecasts core earnings will double this year to $5.2 billion and revenues will rise 80 percent to more than $11 billion, a company source said Monday. Metalloinvest, which is planning an IPO of its shares this year, plans to invest 266.8 billion rubles ($11.4 billion) from 2009 to 2012, in addition to investment of at least 28 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) planned for 2008. "The market dynamics will allow us to reach these numbers this year," the source, who declined to be identified, told reporters, referring to the forecast revenue and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization. Metalloinvest, co-owned by Usmanov and billionaires Vasily Anisimov and Andrei Skoch, produces 40 percent of the country's iron ore. Metalloinvest posted 2007 revenues of $6.1 billion and EBITDA of $2.5 billion, the source said, confirming figures issued by the company earlier this year. Metalloinvest plans to float up to 25 percent of its shares in a fall IPO, sources close to the listing have said. Usmanov agreed in May with Vladimir Potanin, the largest shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, to swap assets in a deal that could create a large, diversified mining house. The deal envisions Usmanov buying up to 10 percent in Norilsk and Potanin buying 25 percent plus one share in Metalloinvest.        The Moscow Times
01 aug. 2008 04:50	Evraz Group to develop Australian iron ore deposit
Evraz Group has announced today that it has signed an agreement with China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC), the Russian mining and metals company said in a press release today. The document stipulates that a joint venture will be set up to develop an iron ore deposit located in western Australia. The project's annual magnetite concentrate output is expected to reach 15m tonnes.             According to the agreement, Evraz Group and MCC will have an economic interest of respectively 75 percent and 25 percent in the project. However, the participation of the Russian company in the joint venture has yet to be approved by Australia's regulatory bodies. Merrill Lynch & Co acts as Evraz Group's financial adviser for the deal, and Blake Dawson has been appointed as its legal adviser.        RBC-News
01 aug. 2008 04:50	Antimonopoly service wages war on coal makers
The Federal Antimonopoly Service said it had initiated proceedings against Raspadsky Ugol and EvrazHolding, accusing the two companies of abusing their dominating positions on Russia’s market for coking coal. Together with Mechel, these companies account for more than 50 percent of Russia’s coking coal market, according to the antimonopoly service.       Raspadsky Ugol and EvrazHolding are charged with setting monopolistically high prices for coking coal on the domestic market, imposing disadvantageous terms on domestic partners, setting economically unjustified different prices for consumers on domestic and international markets, and creating discriminatory conditions for domestic consumers. A similar case had been initiated against mining and metals company Mechel earlier.       The Federal Antimonopoly Service said that cases over the violation of antimonopoly laws had been opened against all companies involved in the production and sale of coal in Raspadsky Ugol and EvrazHolding, including traders and parent (management) companies.       The proceedings were initiated based on the results of inspections by the Federal Antimonopoly Service and price monitoring data. Antimonopoly officials analyzed the prices on the domestic coking coal market and established that the prices had been rising fast since the last quarter of 2007. The price of coking coal sold on the domestic market by Raspadsky Ugol and EvrazHolding almost doubled in the period from September 2007 to March-April 2008.       Raspadsky Ugol, part of the Raspadskaya group, is responsible for sales policy on domestic and international markets. Raspadskaya, located in the Kemerovo region, is Russia’s second-largest producer of coking coal.       EvrazHolding manages the assets of Evraz Group, a mining and metals company which owns three leading steel companies in Russia (Nizhny Tagil Metal Compaby, West Siberian Metal Plant and Novokuznetsk Metal Plant), and it also has assets abroad.        RBC-News
01 aug. 2008 04:49	Zinc Firm's Profit Falls 80%
Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, the country's largest zinc producer, said Thursday that net profit fell 80 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2008 to 109 million rubles ($4.65 million) on low metal prices. Revenues fell 20 percent to 2.9 billion rubles, while earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization fell 61 percent to 400 million rubles, Chelyabinsk said in a statement.        Reunters
01 aug. 2008 04:48	Norilsk Releases H1 Results
Norilsk Nickel, the country's biggest mining company, said Thursday that it increased nickel output by 14 percent in the first half of the year, and copper production by 3.1 percent. The company produced 143,407 tons of nickel, compared with 126,032 tons in the year-earlier period, Norilsk said. Copper output rose to 208,046 tons from 201,867 tons. Palladium output totaled 1.44 million ounces and platinum was 338,000 ounces, Norilsk said, without providing a comparison.       Bloomberg
31 jul. 2008 04:33	Raspadskaya H1 net profit soars
Raspadskaya's net profit under RAS grew 4.4 times to over RUB 4.098bn (approx. USD 176m) in the first half of 2008, the Russian coking coal producer said in a statement. In Q2 alone, the company posted a profit of RUB 3.258bn (approx. USD 140m), up from RUB 839.858m (approx. USD 36m) in January-March 2008. The company attributes the rise in its profits to dividends received from its subsidiary Raspadsky Ugol.        RBC-News